The streets of Thrissur will transform themselves as makeshift stages for nine days from Monday.
With focus on street performances and public spaces, this year’s International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) will have venues ranging from Children’s Park and Palace Road to Tennis Club and Swaraj Round.
The theatre festival will literally be taken to the masses.
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“Everything in the street, including crowd, crossroads, and squares will become properties. The very concept of stage will be reconstructed. Adapting performances to different settings is a thrilling challenge. There will not be any boundaries between the imaginary and real world,” said Abhilash Pillai, Festival Director.
14 venues, 60 shows
In all, 16 international theatre companies, eight Indian companies and seven Malayalam theatre groups will perform at the International Theatre Festival of Kerala.
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More than 60 shows will be staged in 14 venues.
“Companies from India and abroad will converge in Thrissur to present the most exiting contemporary performances of the times,” said N. Radhakrishnan Nair, secretary, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi.
The festival will have performances from France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Chile, Spain, Lithuania, and Iran.
Minister for Culture A.K. Balan will inaugurate the festival at the Bharat Murali open stadium of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, here, on Monday.
A programme, ‘Udaluravu.. Uyirezhuthu.. Udaleduppu’, by theatre person Sankar Venkiteswaran will follow.
Writing conclave
Social scientist Shiv Viswanathan will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural function.
It will be followed by a two-day dramaturgy and writing conclave with talks on post-dramatic literature and dramaturgy.
An art exhibition by SAMHAT, The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, New Delhi, will be part of the theatre festival.
Lost Wheels of Time , a German-Israel collaboration, will be the opening performance.
The play will be a non-verbal clown show inspired by Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland and Eugene Schwartz’s The Tale About Lost Time .
Mass appeal
A mix of humour and surrealism, Lost Wheels of Time will equally appeal to children and adults, and naive and sophisticated audience, says Adam Read, the clown in the show.
The festival will conclude on February 28 with Sari Rosa, a performance from Chile.