Mysuru: The annual fest of music, dance, drama, and food, Bahuroopi multilingual international theatre festival of Rangayana, was inaugurated by renowned Sri Lankan theatre director, Parakrama Niriella, here on Friday.
This fest was originally scheduled to be declared open by actor Ompuri who passed away last week.
During the fest, connoisseurs of culture and theatre would get an opportunity to watch 18 plays in nine languages, including four from foreign countries, and six different states, and eight Kannada plays. While a troupe from Sri Lanka would stage “Sekkuva” a drama in Sinhalese language, a Polish troupe would stage “Such is life” in English, and Bangladesh troupe, “Ameenaa Sundari,” a play in English. The plays would be staged at Bhoomi geetha, Vanaranga Kalamandir and Mini Rangamandir. While the tickets of Kannada play Chithraleke were sold out in three days ago, 60 per cent of tickets for other shows have been grabbed by avid theatre enthusiasts
A symposium, “Our democracy and Theatre,” would be held on Saturday and Sunday.
In his inaugural address, Mr Niriella said: “It has become a great challenge to create “Sri Lankan identity” shedding different communal identities. In one country as different communities do not evince any interest to learn each other’s language they fail to understand and appreciate each other’s experiences and share each other’s joy and pain. So my friend and dramatist, the late H A Perera, and I started “Janakaraliya” a theatre of the people, to find solution for this national problem, through drama and theatre arts as a cultural tool to minimize conflict environment.”
