Natya Chetana director Subodh Patnaik attends a session at the 8th IDEA World Theatre Congress in Paris. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: Subodh Patnaik, founder of theatre group Natya Chetana, recently came back from a month-long tour after attending the 8th World Theatre Congress held at Paris, France.

The congress is organised by the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association, a global association once in every three years since its inception in 1992.

Patnaik, who is a regular participant since 1995, had attended the previous sessions of the congress in Australia, Kenya, Norway, Canada, Hong Kong and Brazil.

He left for the tour in the first week of July. At the congress, he spoke on “How and why theatre can also do away with the spoken language as a medium of expression”.

The deliberation came as a result of Patnaik’s previous experiences where he has worked extensively and created productions using actors from four countries and hence with varying languages.

In mid-July, he moved to Belgium where he witnessed international street theatre festival and saw a lot of productions.

“The audience participation in street theatre in western countries is more than what we see here. They involve the spectator in the play,” said 48-year-old Patnaik.

The dramatist found stark similarities of Natya Chetana, based on outskirts of Bhubaneswar with a theatre complex developed by former IDEA president Maria Van Bakelan in a rural area of South France. He then left for London to meet some theatre personalities and watch some productions.

Talking about the new trends he noticed at the congress, Patnaik said: “The world theatre is gradually learning that theatre also serves for a bigger social and educational cause. Till now, the point of discussion was the finer details of a theatre production.”