JOIN USThe 8th edition of The Theatre Olympics, being hosted in India for the first time, will soon come to Bengaluru.
The international theatre festival began at Delphi, Greece, in 1993. It was inaugurated in New Delhi on Saturday and will run in 17 cities for 51 days with 450 shows. The festival is meant to be a cultural exchange and has about 25,000 artistes from other countries.
Twenty-four performances will be held in Bengaluru between February 20 and March 6 at Ravindra Kalakshetra and Kalagrama, Mallathahalli.
The theme of the festival is 'Flag of Friendship' and is being organised by the National School of Drama, Bengaluru, with support from the Department of Kannada and Culture.
Four international productions from Poland, Greece, and Lithuania have been scheduled for the city edition of the festival. Among Indian theatre groups will be a solo performance of 'Kabeer' by Shekhar Sen, depicting the life of the legendary poet and philosopher. The epic of Mahabharata will be told using puppetry by Anurupa Roy and her group The Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust from New Delhi. The award-winning act will use Kannada, English and Hindi to depict the story.
Plays in Assamese, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu will give theatre enthusiasts a chance to witness theatre styles from across the country.
Folk art performances from the state will be staged at Ravindra Kalakshetra. The students' union of NSD, Bengaluru, will stage short pantomimes and street plays before the shows to get youth interested in theatre. Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain would take part in the 'Living Legend' interaction.
Tickets will be available for Rs 50. For details, visit http://www.8ththeatreolympics.nsd.gov.in.