Culture Minister A.K. Balan will inaugurate the 12th edition of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) at the Regional Theatre here on Monday.
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi chairperson KPAC Lalitha will preside.
Festival director Amitesh Grover will deliver the introductory speech. Minister for Agriculture V.S. Sunil Kumar will deliver keynote address. Education Minister C. Ravindranath and Local Self Governance Minister A.C. Moideen will release the festival book and festival bulletin respectively.
Ammannur Award
Mr. Balan will present the Ammannur Award to writer and theatre critic Shanta Gokhale. The award carries ₹3 lakh, and citation. Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan and Group will stage ‘Saptha Maddala Kachery’ to mark the beginning of the festival.
Silver Epidemic, by Companhia Mungunzá de Teatro, Brazil, is the inaugural play. It will be staged at Bharat Murali Open Air theatre at 7 p.m. It will be followed by Told By the Wind by Llanarth Group, U.K.
The theme of this edition of the ITFoK is ‘Imagining Communities’.
In all, 19 plays will be staged in the 10-day festival that will conclude on January 29.
Seven international plays, six national ones and six Malayalam ones will be staged. International plays are from Australia, U.K., Iran, Brazil, Norway and Poland.
From Iran
Coriolanus by Mostaghel Theatre Company, Iran, which has managed to make plays even amidst the tension in the country, is one eagerly awaited. It will be staged on Wednesday.
In the national category, plays from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Goa, Jaipur and Pune will be staged.
Seminars, performance poetry and discussions will be held as part of the festival.
