Lankan theatre going international
The Sixth Colombo International Theatre Festival, (CITF) the biggest theatre event in Sri Lanka with an international exposure will open on April 3 and performance with international theatrical productions will go on from April 4 to 9 daily at the British School in Colombo.
Started in 2012, this year’s festival will felicitate veteran theatre personality Lucian Bulathsinghala for his decades long contribution to theatre. Japanese dramatist Kenjiro Otani will be the foreign chief guest.
Representing the international theatre works, festival will include plays from theatrical Germany, Sweden-France, India and Belarus.
As an extension of the CITF’s 6th edition a parallel festival will be held in the Dr. Swami Vipulananda Aesthetic Institute of the Eastern University.
The festival will be opened at Mount Lavinia Hotel with the welcoming of Sri Lankan and foreign theatre personalities on April 3. The performances daily at 7 pm at the British School in Colombo include Lucian Bulathsinhala’s “Tharavo Igilethi” (April 4), German’s playwright Julia Dina Heße’s “oOPiCAsSOo” (April), Sweden-France production “Troll” by Tinou Mérigot (April 6), Aditi Venkateshwaran “ In Transit” (India Pune) and Hashika Rathnayaka ‘1,2,3,4 (Sri Lanka) (April 6), Iryna Tsypina’s “When I’ll Become a Cloud” (Belarus) and Sachithra Rahubadda’s “Puberty” Sri Lanka (April 7), Dr. Mrinal Jyoti Goswami “Imaan Imaan Paani” India -Assam and Krishanth Jayabahoo Ai Aulda? (Sri Lanka) and on the final day April 9 three short plays by Sri Lankan playwrights Didula Induwara and Suneth Kawshika’s ‘Wata Addara Wedikawa’, Subashana Kurugala’s ‘Ehala Malai Pittaniyai’ and Nilanka Namal Udumulla’s ‘Penguin’
CITF parallel festival at the Swamy Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies in Batticaloa from March 31 to April includes Aditi Venkateshwaran’s ‘In Transit’ on March 31, Julia Dina Heße’s -‘oOPiCAsSOo’ on April 1 and Dr. Mrinal Jyoti Goswami’s ‘Imaan Imaan Paani’(We are Drowning).Other events that take place parallel to CITF are Theatre Forum- International Director’s Conference from April 5 to 7 at Goethe Institut– Colombo and theatre workshops from April 5 to 9 at the Indian Cultural Centre – Colombo.
The workshop will be conducted by Kenjiro Otani (Japan), Vidyanidhee Vanarase– India and Prof. Dr. Changhwa Gim – Korea on the themes ‘Facilitators, physical theatre, devising, and taboo,
An overview of theatre practices in contemporary India by Dr. Ajay Joshi (India), Meta-Theater: from Text to Audio-Visual Text by Dr. Mrinal Jyoti Goswami (India) , Creating small society or agreements without using speech by Atsushi Kakumoto – Japan, the Natya Shastra and History of Indian Dramaturgy by Kirtana Kumar (India), Crossing borders: perspectives and positions of TYA in Germany by Julia Dina Heße, Contemporary dance and movement workshop by Aditi Venkateshwaran (Indi), Animation in theatre arts by Gomel Puppet Theatre – Belarus and Journey from Being to Becoming by Ujjawal Sinha (India)