India observes World Theatre Day

Theatre artistes from across the country observed World Theatre Day on Saturday with great enthusiasm.

A number of plays were shown at the Tagore Hall in Srinagar to keep the art form alive in Kashmir.

"Like every year, this year also many amateur theatres observed World Theatre Day. As you all know that because of militancy prevailing in Kashmir for the past 18 years, theatre was most affected. But gradually some amateur theatres tried to revive it and are keeping the theatres alive. I am happy that from the past few years some theatre groups from outside have been coming to Srinagar to inform the new generation of Srinagar about theatre," said Shabir Mujahid, Deputy Director of the state-owned Doordarshan in Srinagar.

Meanwhile, theatre artistes in Shimla also performed several street plays as part of World Theater Day.

Hundreds of tourists, both locals and foreigners, assembled at the Gaiety Amphitheatre to watch the plays.

"I think most interesting for me was the active way of playing. You can get something about the story by seeing the actors' faces without knowing the language. What was interesting was the reaction of public. What I really got is people in Shimla like to laugh," said Silke, a German tourist.

World Theatre Day was first observed in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute.