The stage is set for a three-day Odia theatre festival. Natyadhara, at the Bhanja Kala Mandap here from Thursday. The monthly festival that has been happening for the past 55 months without a break is the only of its kind in India hosted as a collaborative project between the Government and private institutions.
The Odisha Natya Sangha (ONS), a federation of about 150 theatre groups of the State, has been hosting the Natyadhara series since January 2012 in association with the Department of Culture and the Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi.
“Our member organisations stage four plays every month. While the first three days of each month have been reserved for the event at the Bhanja Kala Mandap, the second Sunday of the month is earmarked for the fourth play at the Rabindra Mandap,” said ONS vice-president Prakash Maharana.
The Department of Culture offers financial support of Rs20,000 for a play at the Rabindra Mandap which is meant for troupes from outside the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Puri-Khordha region known as inner circle. Similarly, Rs15,000 is offered to the troupes per production presented at the Bhanja Kala Mandap where troupes from across the State including the inner circle stage their plays, he informed.
“The Government’s patronage for Odisha’s marginalised theatre movement has boosted our drive a lot, especially of the troupes from far-off districts who have got an assured space to showcase their works in the capital city in front of theatre experts and connoisseurs. So far, in less than five years, we have presented more than 150 plays by the above theatre groups,” Moharana said.
The event has been receiving rave response from theatre loving public who are attending it in large numbers. Since the dates are fixed for each month, the audiences do not wait for any announcement or invitation, he said.
The plays slated for September include Bandi (The prisoner) by the Rangalok theatre group of Bhubaneswar on Thursday evening followed by Mo Streera Bahaghara (Wedding of my wife) by Puri-based Anusthan Amara theatre troupe on Friday and Tathapi Banchichhi (Still alive) on Saturday by Bhadrak-based Nataraj Samskrutika Anushtan. Paradip’s well-known Canmass theatre group would stage Chandramara Chudiat the Rabindra Mandap on September 11. The play is an adaptation of eminent writer Ramakant Rath’s poem in the same name.