Good morning friends! I hope you are all well there. There will be a festival here in india again. Even it’s not in our city i’d like to share it with you in reference to The Times of India.
The 10-day Ranga Shankara theatre festival came to a close on Sunday with the staging of Kannada play `Sadarame’, one of Gubbi Veeranna’s most successful productions.
This year, the festival celebrated the theme of company theatre, also called the golden era of Indian theatre. Company theatre, greatly influenced by Parsi drama, Marathi sangeet natak and several local traditions, evolved in the early part of the 20th century. The two contemporary plays that were staged at the festival were also about people from the times of company theatre.
Plays like `Nati Binodini’, the biography of an actress who was one of the pioneers of Bengali company theatre, and `Katyar Kaaljaat Ghusli’, a Marathi musical based on the rivalry between two Hindustani music gharanas, were staged during the fest. `Maya Bazaar’, a Telegu play with a cast of 60 members of the same family, was another highlight.
Various workshops, seminars and film screenings formed the sidelines that appreciated the work of an era almost forgotten. Actors from across the country, including Kannada company theatre actors, participated. An archival exhibition of photographs of company nataka in Karnataka, Sangeet nataka in Maharashtra, Parsi theatre and Bengali theatre was also held.
