Bhubaneswar, July 27: Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi is organising a five-day theatre festival in the city with performances by troupes from the western districts of the state.
The festival began on Sunday at Bhanja Kala Mandap with the staging of the play Dandua by theatre group Swara from Sambalpur. The play portrayed the struggles that traditional dandua artistes face.
With emotional dialogues and expressions, the actors narrated the tale of a dandua artiste who committed suicide after failing to sustain his family. While Panchanan Mishra directed the play, Atal Bihari Panda wrote the script.
"Owing to the lack of promotion and resources, the art form is gradually fading into oblivion. But dandua is one of the earliest folk dance forms of the state and steps should be taken to preserve its legacy. Through the play, we have tried to showcase the plight of such artistes in our state," said Manas Ranjan Mishra, an actor, who was part of the play.
Members of theatre group Aadim from Bhawanipatna staged a play called Marubhumi today. The play portrayed the threats that the environment is facing owing to human actions.
It showed how the world would turn into a desert if the human race did not take serious steps against deforestation. Using various theatrical techniques, the actors portrayed the harmful effects of environmental issues such as global warming and air and sound pollution.
The festival is attracting theatre lovers in large numbers. "The artistes were quite communicative and I could clearly get the message that they wanted to send across," said Alka Swain, who saw Marubhumi.
This is for the first time that the state government is dedicating a festival to the artistes of a particular region.
"Through the festival, we wanted to bring to the fore the rural artistes from the western parts of the state to the forefront. The festival aims to give them exposure on a big stage," says Dhira Mallick, secretary of Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Theatre groups from Balangir, Bargarh and Sundaragrh will stage their productions at the festival.
