Take a theatre break

Take a theatre break
New Indian Express

For Bangalore theatre lovers, October means only one thing: the Ranga Shankara theatre festival.

For the third consecutive year, Ranga Shankara has lined up a string of plays of various languages. What set this apart are the scrutiny before each play is selected and the enthusiasm with which every minute detail is attended to.

This year too, the festival will open with Girish Karnad’s Flowers.

One may recall that it was Karnad’s Odakalu Bimba that declared the fest open last year.

Year after year, Ranga Shankara has proved that people of this metropolis are willing to watch good plays despite the fact they are hemmed in by a number of routine constraints.

In the inaugural fest held on October 28 to December 1, over 11,000 audiences watched 31 plays, 37 shows in seven Indian languages including one play from Italy, and another from Pakistan.

In the second festival held on October 28 to November 13, over 5,500 audiences watched 17 plays, 28 shows in five Indian languages.

This was the year when Bareeri - a workshop on critical writing on theatre - was held for the first time.

However, if Ranga Shankara festival duration is cut short from 17 days in the first year to eight days this year, one has to blame it on the poor quality of the entries.

The mother figure of Ranga Shankara Arundhati Nag is as uncompromising as ever when it comes to the quality aspect of theatre.

For tickets call Ranga Shankara: 26493982 / 26592777. Tickets are also available at Hutch Shops at Sheshadripuram, Koramangala, Indiranagar, Infosys Campus and Sankar’s, Old Madras Road.

For Hutch helpline to know ticket status and show details, call 98866-00000.