International theatre festival 'BotTala RonggoMela 2019' kicked off at the Liberation War Museum, Agargaon on November 16, Saturday.

Organised by 'BotTala-a performance space', the third edition of this eleven-day international theatre festival was inaugurated by renowned theatre personality Ataur Rahman, along with Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Dr Md Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal NDC as the chief guests. Three young playwrights- Sadhana Ahmed, Ruma Modak and Shubhashish Sinha joined the opening ceremony as special guests.

Alongside with Bangladesh, a total of 10 troupes from five countries are performing in this year's festival including theatre troupes from India, Iran, Nepal and Spain. Two troupes from Bangladesh, including the host troupe 'BotTola - a performance space' and eight other international troupes, will stage their plays every day at 7:30 pm.

Crutch-er Colonel (Bangladesh) was staged as the opening play at the Liberation War Museum auditorium on the opening evening. Presented by the hosting troupe BotTala - a performance space, the play is adopted from Shahaduz Zaman's novel of the same name and directed by Mohammad Ali Haider.

The 10 other plays scheduled to be staged are - Amar Mukher Anchalkhani (India), Dilemmas With My Flamenco Tailcoat (Spain), Mysterious Gift (Iran), 4.48 Psychosis (Nepal), Biswa Mangal (India), Macbeth (Bangladesh), Shluk (India), Blackhole (India), Acharya Profulla Chandra (India) and Khona (Bangladesh).

Legendary theatre personality, playwright, director and actor Mamunur Rashid will be honored with the lifetime achievement award on the concluding ceremony of the festival, on November 26. Also following the tradition of the previous years, eight divisional theatre activists who have been working diligently to promote theatre in the country will be awarded at the festival.

For the first time ever, the festival will also honor 10 prolific associates behind the scenes who had been working as unsung-heroes for years as the lights, make-up, sound and stage assistants.

The 11-day festival will also feature screenings of documentaries, discussions, songs, dances, recitations, 3 master-classes on several aspects of stage-plays and 5 documentaries made on prominent Bangladeshi and Indian dramatists.

Tickets for the plays will be available at the hall counter on the venue or can also be collected from the website www.bottala.com. The festival will continue till November 26.