The Madras Players

The Madras Players The Madras Players is an Indian amateur theatre group and is the oldest English-language theatre group in Chennai, India. www.themadrasplayers.org S. C.

The Madras Players have staged over 240 theatre productions over the span of more than fifty years. The Madras Players has its origins in the Madras Dramatic Society, a theatre group exclusively for expatriates, that mounted comedies and bedroom farces in the early 1950s. In 1955, the British Council first hosted Robert Newton's Othello which featured a mix of British and Indian actors. Shortly af

ter, the Madras Dramatic Society closed down, and bequeathed most of their props and make-up equipment to The Madras Players founding members N. Yamuna and Gayathri (Grace) Krishnaswamy. The group members in the early 1960s included Thambi Kadambavan, Ammu Mathew, Girish Karnad and Stewart Melluish. In their early days, the group staged British works like Terence Rattigan, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Osborne with the help of directors like John Shepherd and Peter Coe and with constant support from the British Council. In the 1970s, they turned their attention to the newly available English translations of Indian-language plays, a venture which was well received by the audiences. Noted Kannada director Girish Karnad translated his plays to English for the group, who also performed translated works of playwrights like Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar and Gurucharan Das. Noted performers for the Players in this period include comedian Naushir Ratnagar, back-stage artist Mithran Devanesan and voice-artist P. Ramakrishna, who has been a member of the group since 1969.

First announcement about our next play! Please block your dates.Welcome to Grand Life Apartments! Soon-to-be-retired Kam...
09/05/2026

First announcement about our next play! Please block your dates.

Welcome to Grand Life Apartments! Soon-to-be-retired Kamala spends her days counting down to her daughter’s annual visits from abroad. Thirty-two-year-old engineer, Revathi, is frequently reminded by her mother that she’s fast reaching her expiry date in the arranged-marriage market. Heartbroken Jason is here because he’s running away—from his home in Canada, and from his past. And then there is the landlord, Mani, who is fighting to save their beloved home from being razed down by a large construction company. Set in present day Chennai, this slice-of-life play examines, with a reflective lens, familiar relationships in a quiet, heart-warming tale of love, hope and belonging.

20/03/2026

To Kill A Mockingbird with Chennai Art Theatre. We are still on Sat & Sun 21/22 March at M.S.Subbulakshmi Auditorium, Asian College of Journalism. Tkts at www.mdnd.in or come to the venue by 6.30pm! 7pm show.

Address

Old No. 16, New No. 59, Ormes Road, Kilpauk
Chennai
600010

Telephone

+919381911977

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