10th Colombo International Theatre festival now on

The remarkable 10th edition of the Colombo International Theatre festival which kicked off on August 24 will continue till August 30 at the Elphinston Theatre, Colombo 10.  

The festival was opened with M. Safeer’s award-winning play ‘Love and Lockdown’ on August 24. 

This year’s International Mono Drama Competitions include the Romanian play Nijinsky directed by Malina Andrei and the Italian play ‘A Story For Eurydice; directed by Luisa Guarro on August 25, the Iranian play ALA directed by  Mohammad Kazemtabar and the Indian play ‘Gigolo’ directed by Devang Tewari on August 26, the Polish play “Katabaza” directed by Dominik Setlak and Israeli play ‘My Mother’s Diary’ directed by Amitai Kedar on August 27, the Indian play ‘Salma Deewani’ directed by  Bhagyashree Tarke and Croatian play ‘Palunko’s Wife’ directed by Iva Peter-Dragan 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 with the awards night on August 30. 

Greek playwright and academic Sissy Papathanassiou who is also an author, historian, director and President of the Analogio International Festival attached to Greek Institute for Drama, Theatre, Arts and the Letters was the chief guest of the festival while the late Jayalath S. Gomes is felicitated at the festival.  

For the South Asian Mono Drama - Flatform Performance will include ‘Meri Muniya’ directed by Vidhu Khare Das from India on August 25, the Sri Lankan play ‘She Is Naked’ directed by Fr. Peter Hemapriya Botejue on August 26, Indian play “I Want To Fly Like A Kite’ directed by Nehal Bhattacharjee on August 27,  ‘Wawula’ directed by Sri Lanka playwright Anuruddha Heenatigala on August 28, and two Indian plays ‘A Forgotten Tale’ directed by Satish Kumar and ‘A River’s Tale’ directed by Mrinal Jyoti Goswami. 

In parallel to the theatre festival a theatre workshop will be held at the Indian Cultural Center and the Directors’ Conference at Goethe Institute Colombo. Those interested in joining the International Workshops and Directors’ Conference have to register in advance. Tickets for the plays can be purchased via tickets.lk and at the theatre gate.  

Started in 2012, The Colombo Theatre Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The Colombo International Theatre Festival is the sole International Theatre Festival in Sri Lanka. This year’s festival will feature 16 vibrant dramas from 11 countries. Apart from these plays, theatre arts workshops, international theatre directors’ conferences, local and foreign dramatists’ appreciation programmes, international awards ceremonies, and many more will be held.