mumbai here is another addition to the list of unusual venues for staging plays a theatre troupe from mumbai which was invited to present its production before a motley group of theatre lovers in london recently staged their play at a church that was modified into an auditorium the church located on dollis hill lane was leased by the maharashtra mandal london mml a community of marathispeaking residents settled in the city two decades back to provide a common meeting point for the members of the group the group has been staging several cultural events and dramas at the auditorium called maharashtra bhavan as the demand for marathi plays grew over the years the church was modified to accommodate drama shows recently the alumni of a birminghambased medical college staged tee phularani at the venue avinash dhopatkar president of the mandal says their only intention was to keep their native art and culture alive on foreign shores most of our members have either settled here permanently or are on temporary posting and obviously long to keep in touch with our native culture what better way to reconnect than staging marathi plays said dhopatkar an independent financial advisor who has been living in london for the past three decades he added that earlier it was a herculean task finding a suitable space for dramas and rehearsals as members had to either commute a long way to different venues or rent halls that were proving uneconomical while group members overcame such hurdles for the love of theatre for theatre groups it is a welcome challenge staging plays at the maharashtra bhavan as the groups are used to staging plays in theatres equipped with adequate infrastructure staging shows at the auditorium might be inconvenient but most of them have agreed to accept the challenge priya kulkarni an avid theatre buff and a member of the mandal said that the mandal has provided basic infrastructure like acoustics drapery and seats at the venue and depending on the requirements of the troupe they also modify the settings actor prashant damle who staged his play shri tashi sau along with vandana gupte at the venue recently said he was amazed as to how this group of drama lovers settled in the united kingdom had shown what it means to be real marathi drama buffs and what it takes to keep the theatre movement alive even on foreign shores i have staged a play earlier at the venue and have always lauded the efforts of the mandal usually our team interacts with the members over the settings required for a play once finalized the entire set is prepared in london itself as it is uneconomical to ship it from mumbai the efforts of the mandal paid off recently after its fresh experiment with damles play in late 2011 was successful we have formulated a new financially viable plan and plan to invite theatre troupes from mumbai says dhopatkar currently in mumbai scouting for good marathi