THRISSUR: Thespian Girish Karnad will inaugurate the International Theatre Festival of Kerala-2008 (ITFoK) being organised by the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi here next month, according to Akademi chairman Bharath Murali .
The 10-day festival, a brainchild of Murali himself, will commence on December 21.
Theatre troupes from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Nepal, Iran, Bangladesh and India will showcase the best of their talents in the show, Murali said.
A large contingent of theatre experts from these countries will attend the festival, said Murali.
As for the funds for the project, the State Government has already made budgetary provisions which will meet the expenses partly. Contributions from agencies like ICCR and the SAARC are also expected, he said.
The festival is the first of its kind to be organised by any agency in the country, said festival director J Shylaja. According to her, ITFoK will be a regular annual event. Such a project had to be conceived in order to salvage the halcyon days of theatre in Kerala, namely the period 1940 - 1970.
Those were the days when theatre had actively intervened in the social and political milieu of the land, she said.
While the plays will be staged in the temporary auditorium being erected in the foreground of the corporation stadium, interactive sessions, seminars and presentations of esoteric art forms of Kerala will be held at the K T Mohamed Memorial Theatre (Regional Theatre) of the Akademi.
Revenue Minister K P Rajendran on Monday inaugurated the construction of the auditorium. The auditorium has the capacity to accommodate 2000 people.