BENGALURU: Namma Bengaluru is all set to witness the eighth edition of Theatre Olympics which will be held in the city for 15 days. The event is scheduled to be held across the nation from February 17 to April 8.
Bengaluru is one of the 19 cities in the country where the Theatre Olympics will be conducted. The formal inauguration will be held in New Delhi on February 17 and in Bengaluru, the inauguration will be on February 20.
As per the information available from National School Of Drama (NSD), Bengaluru which is the designated authority to organise the event in the city, teams from 40 countries including China, Australia, Greece, England, Poland and Germany, are flying down to India to participate. The shows in Bengaluru will be held simultaneously at Raveendra Kalakshetra and Kalagrama. “At both the venues, the shows will be in the evening. At Raveendra Kalakshetra, the event will begin around 5.30 pm and at Kalagrama around 7.30 pm,” informed Dr C Basavalingaiah, director of NSD, Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, the NSD Bengaluru team is rehearsing to perform two plays — ‘Gunamuka’ by P Lankesh and ‘Gulakayajji’ by Dr Chandrashekar Kambar. The last date to submit applications by the teams was September 8, 2017 and after screening the performance videos sent by them, NSD Delhi has finalised the teams and plays to be performed during the event.
However, in Bengaluru, NSD is organising the function in association with the State Department of Kannada and Culture and planning for a formal inauguration at the state level on February 20. “We are trying to invite the Chief Minister for inauguration and are discussing the same with Kannada and Culture department,” Basavalingaiah said. Kannada and Culture Department is providing the space free of cost for the event. However, the entry fee will be finalised after a meeting which is scheduled to be conducted at Delhi NSD with coordinators of all 19 cities on January 15 and 16. This year’s theme for Theatre Olympics is Flag of Friendship.