The modest offices of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (KSNA) in Thrissur were the venue for the fifth edition of the eight-day-long International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK). In this unassuming town, the virtually abandoned idea of the state’s responsibility to culture, particularly to contemporary Indian theatre, has resurfaced in a significant way thanks to the ITFoK.

In parts of eastern Bihar and Nepal that are associated with the birth of Sita, Ram is not considered a good husband. Folk songs from this region, which fell under the kingdom of Mithila, recount at length the grief of the common people at Sita’s mistreatment by Ram. The poignancy of this grief is also strikingly conveyed in ‘Sita Ki Kahani’, an embroidered wall hanging by Savitri Devi, a seasoned craftswoman from Bihar. In this 90 cm x 70 cm tapestry, text and images are used to create beautiful domestic snapshots of the life Sita could have had had she married a potter, a shepherd or a fisherman from Mithila. The scenes are laid out in picture-book style with the text running alongside illustrations.

The myth of the maverick artist and the frisson of his conversations have often clouded the more substantive aspects of Satyadev Dubey's five decade long career as theatre actor, director and playwright. Satyadev Dubey, A Fifty-Year Journey Through Theatre, a comprehensive account of his work and influence on generations of theatre practitioners edited by writer and theatre critic Shanta Gokhale, sets things right.

Sharmila Biswas, the Kolkata-based Odissi dancer, presented her group production, ‘Chhandamalika,' at the multi arts Timeless Tagore festival at NCPA, Mumbai. Conceptualised as an exploration of Rabindranath Tagore's philosophy of rhythm expressed in his idea of the ‘Universal Spirit,' which pervades every part of the cosmos, the piece brought together the dance forms of Odissi, Kathak and Bharatanatyam.