Considering that Hindi theatre groups in Mumbai have lasted many more years, the English theatre group Rage, about to celebrate its 15th anniversary, is still in its adolescence. The real achievement is in keeping the group going for over a decade, which puts it in the list among the longest running theatre groups doing exclusively (or largely) English plays, along with Ace Productions, Prime Time, Poor Box, Company Theatre, QTP, Working Title to name a few. (Groups like Motley, Ashvin Gidwani Productions, Akvarious do Hindi plays too).

The Big Daddy of English Theatre would undoubtedly be Theatre Group, founded in 1941 by Sultan Padamsee. Later stalwarts like Derrick Jefferies, Adi Marzban, Ebrahim Alkazi, Hamid Sayani and Alyque Padamsee carried on the TG legacy. Theatre stars like Hosi Vasunia, Gerson da Cunha, Sabira Merchant, Farid Currim, Dolly Thakore, Sharon Prabhakar, Karla Singh and Raell Padamsee are just some of those associated with the group. Out of TG grew Thespo (in 1999), headed by Quasar Thakore Padamsee, and some of finest youth theatre emerged from its annual competition.

The last decade has seen not just many more groups doing English theatre, but going original English plays by Indian playwrights. While older theatre groups picked Shakespeare or any popular Western playwright, today, according to Raell Padamsee (whose Ace Productions is 20 years old), "there are plays about the urban experience that young audiences identify with."

"The key to the survival of a group is that you have to keep reinventing yourself," says Rahul da Cunha, who set up Rage with Shernaz Patel and Rajit Kapur. He admits that when he decided to do original Indian plays, it got tougher; while he could do two plays a year earlier, he now does one new play in two years, because writing them or sourcing them is a task.

Besides, as da Cunha points out, the English language has also changed. Bharat Dabholkhar may have pioneered the audience-pleasing 'Hinglish Theatre', but the plays today, have actors speaking in Indian accents, unlike the 'propah' English preferred by the older groups.

Today, even corporate funding, goes mostly to English plays and sponsorship is still easier for the English theatre folks to get. English plays also travel abroad extensively (Lillete Dubey's Dance Like Man has managed a 'crossover' audience).

However, da Cunha argues, "The bigger English theatre has got, the tougher it is to sustain it, because the money hasn't increased — you still can't make a living out of it, you have to keep your day job."

"What is interesting," says Raell, "is that there are so many young people doing theatre. Still, at the end of the day, it's difficult —it's like a hole in the head."