If the Puja season has arrived here in the cultural city of Cuttack, can the theatre festival be far behindIJ The mega theatre event “India Theatre Olympiad” would begin here from Friday. The Olympiad would begin with all India multi-lingual drama from September 20 and would be followed by classical and folk dances, vocal and instrumental music competitions till the 30th of this month.
“The International Theatre Festival, which is is an integral part of this Olympiad would be held from October 1 to 5,” informed the general secretary of the Olympiad Prof Kartik Chandra Rath, who has been single-handedly organising such a mega event.
Prof Rath said the Theatre Olympiad in Cuttack, the only of its kind across the world, is being held in this Millennium city for last 20 years without break. “The theatre festival is being organised to promote creative theatrical expression and artistic acumen of theatre-loving people,” Prof Rath said, adding that the festival also envisages promoting international amity and universal brotherhood through cross-cultural synthesis and social assimilation. He said the fortnight-long extravaganza would see performances of nearly 150 different cultural groups having over 3500 performing artists. The festival would also see the presence of a galaxy of play-wrights, directors and critics from the country and abroad, who would be sharing their experiences and artistic dexterity here with all.
Groups from countries like Argentina, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hungary, Iran, Nepal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sri lanka and Uzbekistan are likely to participate in the festival, Rath informed, saying the city would also witness footfalls of several foreign spectators. It may be mentioned that the city has already witnessed nearly 2,050 dramas written by more than 1,750 well-known playwrights during the last 20 years. These dramas have been enacted by about 67,000 artists, including 1,800 foreign performers.