Theatre Olympiad Begins At New Venue In Cuttack Today

Cuttack: Indian Theatre Olympiad is back in the city with its 26th edition. Beginning this Saturday, it will be held for 10 days instead of 12 at a new venue, Sarala Bhavan.

This national and international festival of drama, dance and music is being organized by the Utkal Yuva Sanskrutik Sangh for the last 25 years.

Sangh general secretary Kartik Chandra Rath said on Friday that the fest has been reduced to 10 days and the venue shifted taking into consideration the funds available. “By shifting the venue form Kala Vikas Kendra, we have managed to save around Rs 10,000 a day on rental charges and get better stage facilities,” Rath said.

He said this year they had a budget of Rs 20 lakh. “While the government provides some funds, we manage the rest through donations and registration fees collected from participants,” he added.

As many as 12 countries will participate in the festival. On the opening day, Achel Natya Samuha of Nepal will present a Nepalese play ‘Lakhe’, Hanna Wang from Taiwan will present Odissi dance, Children’s Dramatic Group will showcase an Assamese play and Yes You Can Dance of Bhubaneswar will perform a fusion dance.

“Groups from Russia, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Morocco, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan will take part in the international festival,” said Rath.

Cultural groups comprising more than 2,500 performing artistes, including playwrights, directors, theatre artistes, classical and folk dancers, vocalists, musicians and critics from about 20 states of India and 12 countries are participating. More than 50 plays, along with dance performances, will be presented in categories including contemporary, humorous, historical, mythological, ancient, folk, lyrical, musical and experimental, children’s play, mime and pantomime.

The fest, Rath further said, aims at promoting creative theatrical expression and artistic enrichment by uniting like-minded artistes from across the globe. The Olympiad will also combine all India multi-lingual drama, classical and folk dance and vocal and instrumental music competition, he added.