Southern States - Kerala   

National theatre festival starts tomorrow

By Our Staff Reporter

PATHANAMTHITTA FEB. 28. The Cultural Affairs Minister, G. Karthikeyan, will inaugurate the National Theatre Festival jointly sponsored by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi and the South Zone Cultural Centre at Thiruvalla on March 2.

The week-long festival has been organised to commemorate the contributions of the late Kannada playwright, B. V. Karanth, to theatredom. The festival venue, St. John's Cathedral Hall on the Thiruvalla Mavelikkara Road, has been named after the Sanskrit playwright Saktibhadra.

A cultural procession will be held from the municipal stadium to Sakthibhadra Nagar as a prelude to the inaugural function on Sunday afternoon.

The inaugural function will begin with an Ashtapadi recital by Thiruvalla Vinodkumar at 5.30 p.m. The Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi chairman, Kavalam Narayana Panicker, will preside over the inaugural meet.

The local MP, Ramesh Chennithala, will inaugurate a photo exhibition on the life of S. V. Karanth, `Natakayanom', later.

The cine actor, Murali, will release the special issue of the `Keli' bimonthly `Keli Deseeya Natakotsavom-2003' by handing over a copy of it to the Director of the South Zone Cultural Centre, Haneendra Reddy, on the occasion.

Ms. Prema Karanth will release the souvenir by handing over the first copy to the Idukki MP, Francis George. The MLAs, Mammen Mathai, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, Adoor Prakash, Raju Abraham and Joseph M. Puthusserry, the District Panchayat president, Mathew Kulathumkal, the District Collector, P. S. Enos, the DCC president, K. Sivadasan Nair, the CPI(M) district secretary, K. Ananthagopan, and the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi secretary, Jose George, will address the inaugural function.

The Nepathya drama troupe of Bangalore will stage the Kannada play, `Gokulanirgamana', directed by B. V. Karanth, at 6.30 p.m. on March 2. The cine actor, Saji Soman, will present a memento to the artists.

A seminar on `B. V. Karanth's contributions to the Indian theatre' will be held on March 3 forenoon. The Karnataka Sangeetha Nataka Akademi chairman, R. Nagesh, will inaugurate the seminar and Mr. Panicker will preside over the seminar.

The noted theatre personalities - Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, S. Ramanujam, Sivaprasad, Thulasidas and Prasad Thomas Kodiyattu - will participate in the seminar. A padayani performance by Kuttoor Prasanna Kumar and party will be another attraction in the afternoon.

The School of Drama, Thrissur, will stage the Malayalam version of Rabindranath Tagore's play `Muktadhara', directed by Prof. Ramanujam, later at 6.30 pm. Actor Nedumudi Venu will be chief guest on the occasion.

A Kakkarassi drama by the Kadalimangalam Padayani Sanghom will be held at 4 p.m on March 4. The Rang Vidooshak of Bhopal will stage the Hindi play `Kehen Kabir' directed by Bency Kaul at 6.30 p.m. The cine actor, Jagathy Sreekumar, will be the chief guest.

The Bengali play, `Theestha Pareer Brithantho', of the Chetana troupe of Kolkata, directed by Suman Mukherji, will be staged at 6.30 p.m. on March 5. The cine actor, Janardhanan, will be the chief guest on the occasion. A folk music performance by C. J. Kuttappan and party will be held at 4 p.m.

The Konkan play, `Hayavadana', directed by Afzar Hussain, will be staged by the Goa Kala Akademi at 6.30 p.m. on March 6. `Pulluvanpattu' and `velakali' will also be performed, earlier at 4 p.m.

A Kashmiri play in Dogri,`Mahabhoj', directed by Balwanth Thakur, will be staged by the Jammu Kashmir Akademi of Arts, Culture and Languages at 6.30 p.m. on March 7 and Bharath Gopi will be the chief guest. The Kalabharathi dance school in Thiruvalla will perform folk dances on March 8 afternoon. Rattankumar Thiyyam will inaugurate the valedictory function at 5 p.m. on March 8. The Manipuri play directed by Mr. Thiyyam will be staged by the Chorus Repertory Theatre of Imphal at 6.30 p.m.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• SC acquits Balakrishna Pillai
• Budget: industry buoyant
• Vigilance: irregularities in import of coal by MCL
• Toll: `exemption for two-wheelers being looked into'
• National theatre festival starts tomorrow

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu