LAHORE: The Lahore Arts Council (LAC) will organise an eight-day 25th theatre Alhamra Theatre Festival from July 22 to July 29, featuring various parallel theatre groups.

The festival would provide theatre lovers with an opportunity to see f reeof-cost performances on the firstcome, first-served basis while the entry to the theatre hall would be through passes available with the council. The venue would be decorated with illuminations, flowers and other decorative material.

There will be a grand opening ceremony attended by film, televisionand theatre artistes. Students from colleges and universities would also be invited to see the performances to be held in Hall 2 of Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, which has been specifically dedicated to the parallel theatre groups and other literary and art performances.

This initiative has been taken in the light of the fact that commercial theatre has also been taking place at Alhamra for the last many years and it is usually held in Hall-I. To balance the things, the LAC management had decided to reserve Hall-II for only creative activities and parallel theatre.

The festival will open with a play by Maas Foundation, titled, `Book ofLove`. The second-day play at the festival will be Rahay Koe Naghrna Gar by Salamat Productions. On the third day of the festival, Akas Theatre would stage the play, Zindagi Kahaniaan. The Creator Productions would stage the play on the fourth day of the festival titled, Ooper Wali Manzil.Lahoo Rang Hai Wadi would be the sixth day theatrical performance by Naurattanm Theatre. The Theaterwalay Productions will stage Marhoorn Ki Yaad Mein and Mein Ik Mian Hoon on the seventh day of the festival while the concluding day of the festival will be dedicated to Ajoka Theatre, which would perform two plays in the evening Suicide Attack and Toba Tek Singh.