ADi théâtre, the theatre troupe of Alliance Française de Delhi
The theatre troupe of Alliance Française de Delhi was founded in 1981. Launched by two teachers, K. Madavane and Ph. Lenglet as " Théâtre de Poche ", this amateur troup started training actors free of charge since 1997. Though, the productions were only in French in the beginning, plays in Hindi were presented more recently with the aim of bringing the French and the Indian cultures together. The work has been intense whenever the members came together and the list of directors started growing steadily : K. Madavane, Ph. Lenglet, J-C. Genin, K. Chandrashekar, J. Cauvin.Authors like E. Ionesco, S.Beckett, Molière, Goldoni, A. Jarry, J-M. Ribes, Obaldia.

A fresh awakening was witnessed in 1997, during the tenure of Pierre-Hubert Touchard, the then Director of Alliance Française de Delhi, whose vision was to run this troupe on a more continuous basis. The post of Artistic Director of the troupe was handed over to Professor S. Somasundaram of AFD . Having worked with Indian and French theatre directors in India and France, his first production was an original creation " Those silent moments ". Then, on an average of two productions per year, S. Somasundaram has directed George Dandin by Molière, Charcuterie fine by Tilly, The empire builders by Boris Vian, Endgame by Samuel Beckett in Hindi.

On the occasion of the 20th birth anniversary of its foundation, the troupe came up with a festival of four plays : Pour un oui ou pour un non by Nathalie Sarraute, dir : S. Somasundaram and Le pastaga des loufs by Fernando Arrabal, dir : Danielle Bonnet in French, No exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, dir : Asad Hussain in Hindi and an entire wordless play, conceived and directed by S. Somasundaram.

All these recent productions are products of workshops conducted at the AFD during which actors are trained. The criteria for joining these workshops are pretty simple. No forms to be filled up, no fee to be paid, not necessary to be part of AFD, no need to speak French, but a keen interest and a team spirit are absolutely necessary along with lot of time mostly in the evenings as the rehearsals are conducted after 6 PM. As the training progresses and as the director of the forthcoming production feels that the actors are ready, the play is chosen and the rehearsals start for the shows that will gather an audience from all walks of live and not only people from the AFD.

All the recent plays have been on tour in Northern India and more tours are being planned. The joys of creating these works in a team have lead to an experience of the highest order. The form of theatre that this troupe researches constantly is one of body movement/language and does not stick to any fixed form of theatre. The actors are given lot of freedom on stage, which allows them to discover themselves to the full. We can proudly say that AFD has the only theatre troupe with a repertoire of plays.

Though Adi theatre is an amateur troupe, our approach is very professional and we have achieved so far the highest quality on the Delhi stage.

"Production of Théâtre de Pôche or ÂDi théâtre"