National Theatre to thrill during festival

The National Theatre of Ghana, under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has launched the third edition of the Ghana Theatre Festival in Accra.

The week-long festival has been outlined to provide a place for artists and the art organisations to gather, interact and celebrate their works and accomplishments with audiences and generate a sense of pride for the local arts and culture.

This would help support existing and new practitioners to partner the National Theatre to stage their works… this in a way would help give back to society in furtherance of the facility’s mandate.

The theme: “Creativity, Expanding Our Horizon” is to ensure that artistic works are protected, preserved and insulate the culture and tradition from foreign dilution.

Madam Akosua Abdallah, the Deputy Executive Director, Artistic of the National Theatre, speaking on the theme, said the creative industry needs to improve on the packaging and marketing of artistic works.

She said it is imperative to broaden their horizon by looking at the sustainability of the industry and ensure that the works could meet the needs and aspirations of current generations.

Madam Akosua asked that artists embrace research rather than assume they know all and collaborate with relevant institutions to bring out the best in their works.

Mrs Amy Appiah-Frimpong, the Executive Director, National Theatre, said the festival would help contribute to the local economy by supporting other small businesses to make it one of the best in the sub-region.

She said audiences would have the opportunity to attend six drama and two dance performances and two film screenings of “Ananse in the Land of Idiots” for senior high school students including an analysis and interpretation segment, 10 performances as part of the outreach efforts.

Mrs Frimpong said there would be a special performance by Roverman for students, a seminar on directing and it would be climaxed with a performance on music to mark the World Music Day.

She said there would be no censorship of artistics content to ensure that all content presented project positive national values and are of high artistic merit.

Mrs Frempong urged the public to patronise the festival and be entertained by the various performances outlined.

Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative expressed gratitude to the Programming Department of the National Theatre for organising this year’s festival to give amateur artists the platform to showcase their works to the large society.

She said in other to educate, entertain, inform and even more importantly influence the desired attitudinal and behavioural changes in the society, there is the need for artistic work and presentations to appreciate the differences inherent in the generations of audience they are serving.

“We must therefore examine the artistic requirements and expectations of each generation in order to offer the requisite tailor-made productions and presentations that will excite, delight and exceed expectations of our audiences in order to sustain their interest and thus, keep the creative arts alive at all times,” she said.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said the twinning of the Ghana Theatre Festival and the Made in Ghana Fair was not by accident but purposefully thought-out decision.

This was because the festival seeks to project positive national values and sustain the cultural heritage, the Made in Ghana Fair intends to promote the patronage of goods produced in Ghana.

She appealed to corporate bodies to support the National Theatre of Ghana and the Made in Ghana goods Fair through sponsorship and partnerships to make this vital project a big success.

Source: GNA