MUMBAI: In this year's annual theatre festival of National School of Drama, it is the music element of Indian theatre that will be one of the main highlights. The festival will begin with a series on 'music in theatre' directed by Bansi Kaul at the Kamani Auditorium, Delhi 

The festival that runs from 6 to 22 January will see participation from 13 countries like China, Japan, Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Israel and France, UK and Italy.

The highlights of the festival will be two special sessions - a series of nine expositions exploring the impact and legacy of music in Indian theatre titled "Natyanaad" and "Natya Manthan", a two-day round-table on January 7-8 to debate on issues like censorship in theatre, theatre portals, archives and the relationship between theatre, medicine and science. The "Natyanaad" series will comprise of songs by different theatre companies from across the country accompanied by narratives.

Experts in the field say that Indian theatre and music are inseparable  Bal Gandharva, who sang on Marahi stage in the 19th century, stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore, Habib Tanvir, Mohan Upreti, K.N. Panniker and B.V. Karanth have used music extensively in Indian theatre. In the 1970s, the Indian stage witnessed a theatre of the roots movement when we went back to folk traditions.

Some of the plays to be staged at the festival are "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" directed by Naseeruddin Shah, "Hamlet, the Clown Prince" by Rajat Kapoor, Rajnaitik Hatya (based on "Crime Passionel") directed by Saoli Mitra, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play "When the Dead Awaken" by Ratan Thiyam and the first ever play in the Thangkul Naga dialect from northeastern India, "Ashang Eina Aton".