Amid the coronavirus pandemic, to mark World Theatre’s Day, Theatre Mall Kirtipur in collaboration with Theatre Centre for Children have started the Quarantine Campaign Theatre Festival 2020 from Friday.

The festival will live-stream previously performed and recorded plays from 5 pm onwards on the Facebook page of Theatre Mall, according to Kedar Shrestha, director of the one-week festival. “For the existence of theatre, the presence of the audience is important but due to the pandemic, it’s not possible for people to visit theatres. That’s why we are bringing the plays to the audience by live-streaming it so they can watch it at their homes,” says Shrestha, founder, and director of Theatre Mall.

Though the medium of experiencing the plays will be virtual, there are certain rules, according to organisers. The plays will start sharply at the allocated time and the viewers can not rewatch it again if they are unable to live-stream it.

Plays that were performed at Theatre Mall, ones that were one to two hours long, will be live-streamed for the first phase of the festival.

For the first day of the festival, Maan vs Mati, a 2015 production written and directed by Shrestha will be streamed.