Theatre Fest in Delhi

From the 6th to the 9th of Feb, there's a theatre fest in Delhi. I'd venture that it's called the 'Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards' because the name can be conveniently shortened to META. And I grin as I type this because this reminds me of something that happened in college, that almost got a friend and me thrown out of class.

There are two plays every day, one from the Emerging list at 4pm, which requires free passes. The second (at Sri Ram Center) is from the Established list at 7pm. You need tickets for that. Details here.

In case you plan to go for any plays from the 'Emerging' list, contact me. I have at least two spare passes for each day, though don't know if I shall be able to go for any. Which is why I haven't bought tickets. Shall 'play it by the ear' (origins of this phrase?).

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Free Passes?

I had been sent passes for The Fringe Fest in December wherein each pass admitted eight. The passes were being used for marketing purposes, cause anyone could just walk in. They had sponsors and not all in their target segment (college students) have deep pockets.

At the Italian Embassy, where Umberto Eco had spoken about losses in translation, entry was free, but we needed eight passes and I had gone alone to collect them. Eventually only three of us went, but I had to wait a little and speak to one of the organisers to arrange entry for ten.

In the above (META) case, at FICCI, the guard had been left with clear instructions that only one pass per person was to be given. I needed three, so had to go to Sri Ram Center to collect two (and then some more).

It's rather strange that they expect each and every person to come to the venue and collect their pass. Okay, it's free - but still. It's quite an inconvenience for most people to take time out to collect a single pass. Usually, that is delegated to a single person, or whoever is able to collect 'em first. For maximum attendance, if its free, why not do the Fringe Fest thing and admit 4 with each pass, on a first-come-first-served basis?

Of course, this is nothing as bad as Cafe Coffee Day, which asked people to buy merchandise worth Rs.200 for free passes for Rocktoberfest.

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