Thrissur: The ninth edition of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) beginning at its permanent venue here on February 20 will focus on street plays. In the previous years, the focus was on geographical locations, and places like Europe, West Asian. Organisers said artists from Spain, Chile, France and Italy would stage plays at four different locations. “As it is a theatre fest, we do not want to stay in a groove. So we decided to conduct more street plays to take the theatre to the masses,” N. Radhakrishnan Nair, secretary of the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, the principal organiser, said.
“The global trend of late is to make the spectators a part of the play and get from them their active involvement. The audiences are no more mute spectators. The street plays enhance the scope for their participation,” its co-ordinator Sasi Kumar told DC. The street plays are scheduled to be held at North Bus Stand, Swaraj Round, the backyard of Ramanilayam Guest House and Palace Road. Adrian Schvarzstein for Spain, a doyen of street theatre, will also be performing. There will be 31 plays with seven from Kerala and eight from other states. Theatre troops and artists from Serbia, France, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, USA, Finland and Spain will be taking part in the nine-day fest.
