A decade long celebrations of theatre around the world
View(s):- 10th Colombo International Theatre festival 2024
By Susitha Fernando
Chief guest Sissy Papathanassiou from Greece
The 10th Colombo International Theatre Festival 2024 (CITF) will be commenced with theatre experiences from around the world from August 24 to 30 at the Elphinstone theatre, Colombo.
The chief guest of this year’s festival is Sissy Papathanassiou, an author, historian, director and the President of the Analogio International Festival attached to Greek Institute for Drama, Theatre, Arts and the Letters. This year CITF felicitates the late Jayalath S. Gomes.
“I first heard about the Colombo International Festival from Mohamed Safeer, three years ago. We were both invited to the Sharm El Sheikh Festival in Egypt. He gave a detailed description of the Colombo Festival and his role in it. He was very enthusiastic about sharing his experiences and thoughts about the Colombo International Festival with me” said Sissy Papathanassiou who also the Head of the Letters Directorate, Hellenic Republic Ministry of Culture, Greece.
‘I was really looking forward to attending this Festival for the first time, watching the performances and getting involved in the artistic and educational aspects of the event’ she added.
The festival will be opened with M. Safeer’s award winning play ‘Love and Lockdown’ on August 24. This year’s International Mono Drama Competitions will include Romanian play ‘Nijinsky’ directed by Malina Andrei and Italian drama ‘A Story For Eurydice’ directed by Luisa Guarro on August 25, while Iranian play ‘ALA’ directed by Mohammad Kazemtabar and Indian play ‘Gigolo’ directed by Devang Tewari will come alive on August 26.
Polish play ‘Katabaza’ directed by Dominik Setlak and Israeli play ‘My Mother’s Diary’ directed by Amitai Kedar will go on stage on August 27. The Indian play ‘Salma Deewani’ directed by Bhagyashree Tarke and Croation play ‘Palunko’s Wife’ directed by Iva Peter-Dragan will be staged on August 28 and Bangladeshi play ‘Aamar Aami’ directed by Ashim Das, American play ‘Mt Rushmore’ directed by Nehemiah Luckett and Theresa Buchheister will be staged on August 29. The grand Awards night will be held on August 30.
For the South Asian Mono Drama – Platform Performance will include ‘Meri Muniya’ directed by Vidhu Khare Das from India on August 25 and Sri Lankan play ‘She Is Naked’ directed by Fr. Peter Hemapriya Botejue will be staged on August 26, while Indian play ‘I Want To Fly Like A Kite’ directed by Nehal Bhattacharjee will come alive on August 27.
Sri Lanka playwright Anuruddha Heenatigala’s ‘Wawula’ will be staged on August 28 and two Indian plays ‘A Forgotten Tale’ directed by Satish Kumar and ‘A River’s Tale’ directed by Mrinal Jyoti Goswami are billed to stage on the same day.
In parallel to the theatre festival, a theater workshops will be held at the Indian Cultural Center and the Director’s Conference at Goethe Institute Colombo. Those interested in joining the International Workshops and Directors’ Conferences have to register in advance.
Tickets for the plays can be purchased via tickets.lk and at the theatre gate.
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