Karnataka - Bangalore   

Ranga Shankara unveils theatre festival

Rakesh Mehar

Bangalore: Come October and the doyen of Kannada theatre, Girish Karnad, steps back into the limelight. The third edition of the annual Ranga Shankar Theatre Festival kicks off on October 8 with the premiere of Roysten Abel-directed Flowers, a play crafted by Mr. Karnad especially for the festival. Spanning over eight days, the festival will also showcase seven other plays — K.L. Saigal (A Musical Play in Hindi) by Pierrot's Troupe, Aparna's Cotton 56, Polyester 84 and Surnai's Jameela Bai Kalaali in Hindi, Rangayana's Kanase Kanasu in Kannada, The Company Theatre's Numbers in the Dark in English and Hindi, Maharashtra Cultural Centre's Makadchya Hati Champagne in Marathi and Bankubabur Bandhu and Samudrer Mouna by Swapnasandhani in Bengali. In addition, Ranga Shankara has expanded on the concept of platform performances with Platform No. 36/2, where a group of young directors will tackle two renditions of each play, one performed by students and another by employees of corporate organisations. At the launch of the much-shortened festival, Arundathi Nag, the Managing Trustee of Ranga Shankara said that the third edition of the festival had been shortened in order to save resources for a bigger festival planned for next year.

Challenges

In response to questions about the challenges that Ranga Shankara faces, Mr. Karnad, who is the Chairman of Ranga Shankara voiced his grievances with the Government for collecting entertainment tax for theatre performances with tickets priced above Rs. 50. "In Maharashtra, one of the reasons theatre thrives is because there is no entertainment tax on plays. I request the Government to do the same here."

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