National Theatre Festival held in the city

The city witnessed five spectacular plays as part of a National Theatre Festival held at

Rabindra Mandap

recently. The festival, known as Purva Ranga, presented plays in Odia, Hindi, Asamese and Bengali languages.

It was organised by the Odia Language, literature and Culture Department,

Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy

, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata and OdishNatya Sangha. On the opening day, Odia version of the famous play Nagamandal, written by renowned playwright and theatre person Late Girish Karnad, was presented by

Newquest Repertory

of Odisha. The play has been translated by Sukesh Panda and directed by Nalini Nihar Nayak.


The second evening saw a play on the freedom struggle of India. It was Jalliwanawala Bagh, written by Suraj Parakash and directed by Ashok Banthia and presented by Banthia’s group from Mumbai. The third evening presented Bengali play, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam, written by Adwaita Mallabarman and dramatised and directed by Probir Guha. It was presented by Alternative Living Theatre, Kolkata. On the fourth evening, theatre lovers witnessed an Assamese play, Kinu Kou, written and directed by Pabitra Rabha and presented by Dapon- The Mirror, Assam.


On the concluding evening, it was the epic play, Shakuntala, originally written in Sanskrit by legendary poet and dramatist

Kalidasa

in 4th CE and translated into Hindi by

Mohan Rakesh

and directed by Satyabrata Rout. The play was staged by students of Department of Theatre Arts, University of Hyderabad.


“It was a great time for theatre lovers to witness some of the best plays. Such festivals are needed for the passionate crowd here,” said Prakash Maharana, a veteran theatre personality.