Ministry appeals for revival of Othellos festival

THE EDUCATION Ministry has formally asked the Council of Ministers to reinstate the Othellos Festival.

The Paphos festival, which was a huge success in 1996, was due to go ahead again this year, but was abruptly cancelled in July.

The Education Ministry’s Cultural Service said at the time that it had had no forewarning of the cancellation; organisers said the festival had been scrapped due to lack of government interest.

Thousands of specialised tour operators who had promoted the festival found themselves out of pocket after cancellations from opera buffs prepared to travel to Cyprus from as far away as Australia and Japan.

German organiser Rudolph Sauser said recently he was still prepared to bring the festival back to Paphos next year and was waiting for a response from the government.

In the meantime, the Turkish Cypriot authorities have arranged with another German organiser for a festival in August next year in occupied Salamis – also called the Othellos festival.

The Education Ministry has now decided to take action to retrieve the festival and bring it back to Paphos in 1998, a spokesman at the Cultural service said yesterday.

The spokesman said they had already sent a letter to the Council of Ministers to ask them to consider re-staging the festival.

“We hope the Council of Ministers will decide soon,” the spokesman said. “This matter is urgent.”

He added that as soon as the cabinet took its decision, he would contact Sauser to see whether the festival could be arranged for 1998.

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