BHUBANESWAR: Curtain came down on the five-day Natya Utsav, organised by the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata, in association with the State Culture Department here on Saturday. On the last day of the theatre festival, a folk tale ‘Phool Nautanki Villas’, directed by Abhay Sinha, was staged by Pragan theatre group from Bihar. In the five days, five selected Manipuri, Oriya, Hindi, Bengali plays were staged in a bid to popularise theatre in the region. The festival was aimed at providing an opportunity to the city’s theatre buffs to watch some select plays in regional languages. The EZCC organisers said holding such festivals would provide a platform to the region’s budding theatre artistes.“The purpose of holding such festivals is to provide basic opportunities and facilities to those involved in theatre to stage their creations and thereby help generate interest in theatre among the masses,” said Abhinna Routray, dramatist and member of Orissa Natya Sangha that has 150 amateur theatre groups across the State as its members. A workshop on ‘Theatre Today: Orissa Scenario’ was also organised at the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya on the occasion where speakers lamented that youths have distanced themselves from theatre with the onslaught of modernity. Theatre personality Ramesh Panigrahi said new playwrights are trying to develop the theatre in their own way by destabilising the conventional theatre. “The modern Oriya theatre has deconstructed the conventional forms of theatre,” he said. Noted theatre personality H Kanhailal said revival of ancient Sanskrit theatre may lead to the promotion of theatre movement. “Awareness of contemporary theatre among the theatre groups will help to an extent. We urgently need regular workshops on play writing, production and stage crafting, otherwise the standards of the plays being staged today will not improve much,” he said.
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