Colombo International Theatre Festival 2012

By Ranga Chandrarathne

Sri Lanka’s first ever international theatre festival, Colombo International Theatre Festival will be held from March 26 to April 2 at 3.30 p.m. and at 7.00 p.m. at the British School in Colombo.

The theatre festival under the category of non-competitive theatre festival will be held mainly under three categories; Performance, Workshop and Presentations and Appreciations.

For the main segment of the festival 10 theatre groups will participate representing Germany, Iran, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Australia and Punai in India.

In the appreciation segment, the festival will felicitate veteran theatre personalities who have made a lasting contribution to Sri Lankan theatre.

An important segment of the Colombo International Theatre Festival is the Workshop and Presentations by visiting theatre personalities from diverse parts of the globe. The workshops among other things, would give much-needed international exposure and practical experiences for Sri Lankan theatre personalities in general and young actor and actresses in particular.

Although south Asian countries have their own international theatre festivals, Colombo International Theatre Festival is the first ever international theatre festival in Sri Lanka. For instance, India held 7 international theatre festivals, Pakistan 2, Bangladesh 2 and Nepal 2.

The festival is organised by M. Safeer and Inter Act Art, a cultural organisation which, for the First time introduced the Black Box Theatre to Sri Lankan theatre. Basically, the group is involved in stage drama and Performing art.

It is a multi-language, multi religious group. So far, the group has produced about 20 short plays, 12 plays of longer duration. In addition it has produced Ballets, documentaries and short films.