Thrissur, Tuesday, January 31, 2012: Legendary artistes Padma Bhushan Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Padma Bhushan Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, Padma Shri Parassala B Ponnammal and Trippekulam Achutha Marar will together inaugurate the fourth edition of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) at the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi headquarters here on Wednesday.

Akademi chairman and festival director Soorya Krishnamurthy said the eight-day extravaganza would focus on master playwrights in the world.

“This year, ITFoK theme is Meet the Masters — Contemporary Theatre of the World. The festival will feature plays written by or inspired by the works of celebrated playwrights from across the world,” Krishnamurthy said.

“It will see contemporary theatre productions centered on the works of celebrated playwrights such as Kalidasa, Bhasa, Rabindranath Tagore, William Shakespeare, Henrik Ibsen, Johan Strindberg, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, George Bernard Shaw, Anton Chekov, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Edmund Bond, Federico Garcia Lorca, Moliere, Horld Pinter, etc., being staged,” Krishnamurthy said.

The inaugural ceremony will be followed by Manganiar concert directed by Kuldeep Kothari, and Malavikagnimithram directed by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar.

(News agency)