Curtain falls for Theatre Festival
Wednesday 30 December 2009

The ten day long Afro-Asian drama festival, International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFK-2009)  brought the curtain down  at Thrissur on Tuesday. Inaugurating the function to close the festival at Regional theatre , litterateur and orator Sukumar Azhikode said,``Drama is the art that is potent in every artform. We had prime ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru, who respected artistes. But now it is hard to see rulers who love art and artistes."
Delivering the keynote address, the  Manipuri dramatist  padmasree Ratan Thiyam said, the approach of Keralites to promote traditional art forms was interesting and it  was different in other states. Manipuri drama was the one staged on the last day of festival. It was based on  Ibsen's last play `When We Dead Awaken'.

Azhikode  honoured the organisers of festival in the function. Sangeetha Nataka Academy chairman in-charge K.M. Raghavan Nambiar presided over. Festival director Abhilash Pillai summed up. Prof. Aliyar welcomed the gathering  and Academy secretary Dr. Prabhakaran Pazhassi expressed vote of thanks.