Oct 31 2021 to Oct 31 2021 2:30 p.m.

EVENT HAS ENDED

Where

Ranga Shankara

36/2, 8th Cross Rd, R K Colony, 2nd Phase, J. P. Nagar 560078

Event Description

Ranga Shankara is one of Bangalore’s best known and loved theatres and this month is celebrating the 17th anniversary of its founding. As part of its 59th edition, Belfast International Arts Festival is contributing to these celebrations by partnering with Ranga Shankara to create a special online event for the annual Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival, bringing together theatre and dance artists from Northern Ireland, Bangalore and India.

Ten major works, created by some of Northern Ireland’s leading theatre and dance makers and arts organisations will be featured in a special compilation film - Spotlight on Northern Ireland Theatre and Dance - that was screened earlier this year at  a special global arts industry event for the  Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It will be followed by an online conversation with many of the artists seen on the film with questions taken from the viewing audience.

The event will take place on Zoom and the link to the Zoom meeting is available on the Ranga Shankara website.

The entire event will be co-hosted by Richard Wakely, Artistic Director of Belfast International Arts Festival and Arundhati Nag, Artistic Director of Ranga Shankara. The aim of this event is to promote cultural co-operation and collaboration between Northern Ireland and India through introducing the world-class work created by artists, theatre and dance companies from Northern Ireland to fellow theatre and dance makers in India and creating a meaningful dialogue between artists and arts organisations in both countries.

This special event which takes place at 14.30hrs (10:00am GMT) on Sunday 31 October 2021 and is supported by British Council Northern Ireland with the film presented with English subtitles.

Spotlight on Northern Ireland Theatre and Dance was originally curated by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for Edinburgh Festival Fringe and delivered in collaboration with Belfast International Arts Festival and Theatre and Dance NI.  The film includes extracts from recent and new theatre and dance productions including;

    Body Politics by Jo Egan. Produced by MACHA.
    The Shedding of Skin by Vittoria Cafolla.  Produced by Kabosh Theatre Company.
    Epilogue by Eileen McClory.  Produced by Maiden Voyage Dance.
    Sadie by David Ireland. Produced by the Lyric Theatre and Field Day Theatre Company in partnership with BBC Arts.
    Immaculate written and performed by Louise Mathews. Produced by Tinderbox Theatre Company.
    Inside the Speaker by Helen Hall.

The film also references new forthcoming works this autumn including;

    The Grimm Hotel by Cahoots NI
    Department Story by Big Telly Theatre Company.
    The Border Game by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney. Produced by Prime Cut Productions and Lyric Theatre.
    Distortion by Amanda Verlaque. Directed by Rhiann Jeffrey. Produced by the MAC.

The Grimm Hotel, Department Story and The Border Game all premiere during the 59th edition of Belfast International Arts Festival which opens on 6th October and runs through to 7th November 2021.

Richard Wakely, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Belfast International Arts Festival, commented, “We are honoured and delighted to be able to help celebrate the 17th anniversary of the founding of Ranga Shankara by sharing new theatre and dance work with fellow artists and arts organisations from Bangalore and across India and as part of the annual Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival. All of us hope this is the beginning of a new and special relationship between theatre and dance makers, festivals and arts organisations in our respective countries and based around our shared belief in the value of cultural exchange and collaboration.”

BIAF’s principal funder is the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and is also supported by Belfast City Council, British Council, the Government of Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Tourism Northern Ireland and a range of project funders and sponsors.

For further information on Belfast International Arts Festival and its programme , visit BelfastInternationalArtsFestival.com

Notes to Editors

About Ranga Shankara
Ranga Shankara (www.rangashankara.org) has been the nerve center of theatre for the past 17 years, a nurturer of art and artistes, a catalyst that has changed the landscape of theatre in Bangalore and India. It has been a place where the community comes together and art flourishes. Ranga Shankara is administered and run professionally by the not-for-profit Sanket Trust.

Every October the theatre hosts a grand festival! The Ranga Shankara theatre festivals present a multi-layered and vibrant smorgasbord of Indian, and often international theatre, to the people of Bengaluru. This is one of the most anticipated cultural events of the city, with the theatre community, aspirants, our regular patrons and audiences alike eagerly awaiting this annual event. Ranga Shankara Festivals attract a culturally aware and intelligent audience that wants to be entertained and provoked.

About Belfast International Arts Festival

The mission of Belfast International Arts Festival is to be the preeminent, progressive international arts event within Northern Ireland, actively engaging both global and local communities in the richness and diversity of contemporary arts practice. With our partners throughout the entire city, we seek to create a distinctive environment for audiences to enjoy and participate in inspirational and transformative aesthetic experiences from world-class artists, thinkers and leaders.

With a long history going back some 59 years, emerging seven years ago as a new independent entity Belfast International Arts Festival, this year’s programme rises to current challenges, responding creatively to bring audiences new ways to experience, engage and participate in the arts.