Come Friday and the city will gear up to celebrate the spirit of theatre in its classical form in this year's Ranga Shankara Festu00a0

Over the next 11 days, Bangaloreans are in for a theatrical treat as the Ranga Shankara Theatre Fest hits town. With 17 folk forms of theatre in eight different languages from all across India, the festival is all ready to celebrate theatre in its classical and purest form.

Explaining why Ranga Shankara chose this particular theme in the seventh anniversary of the festival, Gayathri Krishna, who handles the programming of the celebration says, "We wanted to show how these forms of theatre were practiced as rituals around 500 years ago and slowly evolved as classical forms. Youngsters should participate in this event to know how their backyard is and thus widen their perceptions of Indian theatre."


Kattaikkuttu, a theatrical performance from Tamil Nadu

The Guide picks 11 best performances over 11 days that you simply cannot miss out on.

Day 1 October 22
Theatre & Arts Appreciation Course
Bangaloreans, here is your chance to view art with a new perspective. Spearheaded by renowned art critic Sadanand Menon, the workshop will show participants how to appreciate art through new ways of seeing and listening. Held in different segments over a period of six days, the workshop will discuss theatre, cinema, dance, photography and music. The course while discussing various structures of art will also allow participants to interact with eminent theatre personalities like Girish Karnad, artist Pushpamala N, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and singer Bombay Jayashree among others. The workshop is open to participants between the ages of 16 and 60 years for a course fee of Rs 5,000. However, the fee for full time students is Rs 1,000.
On from October 22 to 24 and from October 30 to November 1, 10.30 am onwards