Bahuroopi begins at Rangayana today

MYSURU: Bahuroopi has brought back international plays to Mysuru. Thanks to Rangayana, theatre buffs will get to savour acclaimed plays offered by noted directors and theatre troupes from four countries at the annual winter theatre festival which will start on Friday.
Ahead of the launch of the six-day festival at Kalamandir, the Sri Lankan troupe, which will stage ‘Sekkuwa’, checked into the theatre repertory on Thursday.Rangayana is wearing a festive look, unlike a fortnight ago when artistes and technicians were upset with the state government and launched a dharna seeking post-retirement benefits. Given that the government has agreed to their demand, they are now involved themselves with the preparations for the multilingual theatre festival. The plays will be staged at four theatres —Bhoomigeehta, Vanaranga, Kalamandir and mini-theatre. The plays at Kalamandir are scheduled at 8pm to cater to theatre buffs who like to watch plays late in the evening. The shows at Vanarana start 7pm, and at Bhoomigeetha at 6.30pm.
‘Janakaraliya’, the Lankan troupe, will present a Sinhala play at Kalamandir on Saturday. The 21-member team is led by acclaimed director Parakrama Niriella, who will inaugurate the festival on Friday. Initially, the repertory had invited legendary actor Om Puri to launch the festivities. But his sudden demise last week has forced them to make changes.
Apart from a play in Sinhala, theatre buffs will also get to enjoy two English plays -- ‘Medea’ by London-based theatre troupe on Sunday, and ‘Such in Life’ by a Poland troupe on Monday. A Bengali play from Bangaldesh ‘Ameena Sundori’ will also be staged. This edition of Bahuroopi will showcases 17 plays, including six in Kannada, and others being in Hindi, Urdu, Oriya, Sanskrit and Malayalam.
When Rangayana first started experimenting with the theatre fest over a decade ago, the repertory had got noted theatre troupes and artistes from abroad.
But the festival was discontinued for sometime owing to financial constrains as the budget for the festival was limited. This time, the government has extended Rs 50 lakh to Bahuroopi.
For the first time, Rangayana is presenting theatre songs by acclaimed artistes daily. Noted director B Jayashree and her troupe will present Kannada theatre songs on Friday ahead of the inaugural session. Theatre songs in Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi will also be rendered from 5pm.
Besides plays, the organizers will host a film festival, wherein acclaimed films and documentaries will be screened from 10.30am to 5.30pm at Sriranga daily.
Rangayana is focusing on the links between democracy and theatre this edition. During the two-day seminar, writers and theatre activists like H S Shivaprakash, Shreepada Bhat, Rajappa Dalawai, Muzzafer Assadi, Kavitha Rai and Chandrashekara Patil will discuss issues like social media and theatre, hysteria of false nationalism, theatre experiments in Karnataka and redefining the social responsibilities of art. The meet is dedicated to senior artiste Manjunath Belakere, who died last month following a heart attack.