An act in progress during Natya Chetana’s 17th annual theatre festival. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 6: The 17th annual theatre festival of Natya Chetana in Khurda concluded on Thursday.

Various troupes from Odisha performed on the theme of unity at the five-day festival that saw the attendance of European delegates.

The festival began with the participants and volunteers working for the beautification of the campus.

The delegates from countries such as Germany, Poland, Finland, France, and Estonia, too, joined hands in revamping the campus that ultimately turned out to be more fun than work.

“I enjoyed decorating the area near the podiums with different materials such as bamboo sticks, straws, and colourful earthen pots,” said Laura, a participant from Germany.

On the inaugural day, a rally for theatre was taken out to popularise the event as well as to promote folk music among the local residents. Based on the popular story Sua Muhare Patara written by Pranabandhu Kar in 1950s, the play Sua... was staged in the evening.

The play was adapted and directed by Subodh Pattnaik, the founder of Natya Chetana. About 20 artistes of the group portrayed various characters in the play.

The second day of the festival began with a workshop conducted by Vahur Paul, a famous theatre personality from Estonia.

Most of the guests and students took part in the workshop, which consisted of several physical and mental exercises.

Spandan theatre group from Rourkela staged the play Sunyatara Sesha Katha directed by Samar Mudali and written by Subhash Mohapatra.

Everyone celebrated Saraswati Puja with zest after attending a workshop by Merce, a German and his group, on Tuesday. The main performance of the evening was Pathara by Nayagarh based-theatre group.

The play was written by Ragesri Nilayam and directed by Sarat Acharya. Patric Navattee of Paris, Rajat Das of Calcutta and C.L.C. Srinivas of Bhubaneshwar also performed and taught the participants a few acting tricks at the festival.

On the concluding day, Hacen and Anna from Poland conducted a workshop.

“As usual, we had an august gathering with eminent directors, observant viewers and enthusiastic students and researchers coming from all over the world,” said Patnaik about the successful conclusion of the festival.