The NIB (Nepal India Bangladesh) Theatre Festival 2004 was their first attempt to go international. Then onwards, the Kathmandu International Theatre Festival (KITF) has been their regular endeavor to uphold their international presence.[break]
From six to eight and now sixteen, the number of participating countries in KITF has definitely increased. Coming around for the third time, the Kathmandu International Theatre Festival 2010, which took off yesterday, gathered audiences and is expected to have housefuls till it concludes on December 7.
“The objective of KITF was not only to promote mutual cooperation amongst the participating theatre communities but also provide an opportunity to exchange theatre cultures around the world,” shares Sunil Pokharel, artistic director and Kul Guru of Aarohan Theatre Group.
Festivals like these, according to Pokharel, also help them to analyze themselves and “know where we stand” as a theatre group.
With double the number of participant countries than the last time, Pokharel says the Festival this year has more variant presentation styles and some new wave dramas.
Besides the plays being staged, the festival has also incorporated different workshops on Theatre of Oppressed, Physical Theatre, The Art of Transformation and more into their schedule. With several international theatre scholars and pioneers coming together, the workshop, along with interaction programs with the theatre groups, will be an informative and a learning opportunity for all theatre enthusiasts.
“Theatre has a dearth of audiences, not just in Nepal but worldwide,” says Pokharel, “But we still find theatre communities, though small, working to keep theatre alive, and international festivals help link the smaller communities to form a global one.”
Though Aarohan productions have now earned good reputations and attract many audiences in Kathmandu, Nepali theatre as a whole is still struggling for sustenance. With lack of space and resources, many Nepali theatre groups still have to wait around to book theatre houses. Aside from a few mobile theatres and street plays, theatre culture beyond Kathmandu is somewhat nonexistent.
But, despite all that, organizing an international theatre festival without any financial support from the government is surely a commendable effort for an independent theatre group.
“We’re lucky we’ve been able to retain this space till date and the festival can go smoothly,” shares Pokharel, “But until we have our own theatre space, the future still looks uncertain sometimes.”
But the group is going strong. With aspirations to decentralize by starting another Gurukul theatre branch in Biratnagar by January 2011 to working on more Nepali plays, staging the classics of Gopal Prasad Rimal and Bal Krishna Sama to new wave dramas and foreign adaptations, the theatre group is still working hard for their original goal to create a “Nepali” theatre movement.
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As Paul Woodruff says in his book “The Necessity of Theatre”, theatre is a twin art of watching and being watched. For all who are planning to become a part of the art during the festival at the Rimal and Sama Theatre of Gurukul in Purano Baneshwor, Kathmandu, here is their schedule for the first seven days:
Kathmandu International Theatre Festival 2010
November 17 to December 7 (Mangsir 1 to 21, 2067)
Rimal/Sama Theatre, Gurukul, Old Baneshwor, Kathmandu
Performance: 5p.m., Rimal Theatre, Gurukul, Old Baneshwor.
Interactions with director and actors every day at 3 p.m., Sama Theatre.
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