ITFoK’09- Afro-Asian theatre festival at Thrissur, Kerala

The second chapter of the International theatre festival organized by Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi will be focusing of plays from African continent and Asia. The plays from South Africa, Kenya, Pakistan and India will be presented in this festival from 20^th to 29^th of December 2009, at Thrissur Kerala.

ITFOK'09 is intended to provide a platform for addressing Afro-Asian cultural diversities through the medium of theatre. Performance should have relevance in the modern times while reflecting a strong cultural heritage inimitable to the countries they hail from.

The festival is organised by Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi with the support of Sangeet Natak Akademi New Delhi, South Zone Cultural Centre, National School of Drama, and North East Zone Cultural Centre, and is dedicated to the memory of Bharath Murali, the late chairman of Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Malayalam Theatre Panorama (at 4.00 pm from 21st onwards)There will be an exclusive Malayalam Theatre Panorama which is intended to feature local theatre groups and ensure exposure to those theatre activists who are “working with limited resources” according to the organizers of ITFoK’09. The platform performances will have group or one-actor shows of duration up to one hour. Six play lets and nine one hour duration play have been included in this category

Seminar (11.00 am to 01.00 pm from 21^st onwards).A series of seminars are being conducted as part of the festival, that may serve as a forum for communication, and exchange of ideas among theatre practitioners, activists, academicians and other experts. Prominent theatre personalities from South Africa, Pakistan, Kenya, India and elsewhere will take part in the session. The forum will cover the gap between the practitioners and academicians in the field of theatre, identifying unified streams of exploration. The topics of discussion are ‘Tasks of Acting & direction’, ‘Contemporariness of African Theatre & Indian Theatre’, ‘African Theatre, Visual media &narrative perspectives of Indian Theatre’, ‘Cultural similarities between India and African countries – primitivism & modernism’, ‘Evolving academics & syllabus’, ‘Malayalam theatre today’, ‘Major groups & theatre movements- Malabar and Travancore movements’, ‘Theatre n the Times of Globalization with special Emphasizes & Human rights’, ‘Talks on Play, Direction & Running of Chorus Theatre’ etc. The list of speakers include Naseeruddin Shah, Mark Fleishman, Anuradha Kapur, Keith Pearson, Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, Ananthakrishnan, Kumara Varma, Sanjana Kapur, Shahid Nadeem, K Satchithanadan, Anamika Haksar, Rattan Thiyyam and others.

Exhibition: An exhibition covering the history of Indian Theatre from pre-independent and post-independent era is also planned along with that cover the history of Shakespearean Companies in India, Parsi Theatre, and early Bengali Theatre, regional theatre movements etc.

Meet The Director (09 am to 11 am everyday from 21^st onwards) An interactive session with the director of a play and the audience. following the day of performance is also envisaged.

The program Schedule

Day One 20^th December 2009.

Inaugural Function – Naseeruddin Shah the famous film/theatre actor, will declare the festival open; at the presence of MA Baby, the Minister for Culture, Govt of Kerala. Music & Dance Performance by Sidi Goma Group, Gujarat (India), follows

The Caine Mutiny Court Martial - India - Naseeruddin Shah – Motley Theatre Mumbai - 07.00 pm

Based on a novel by Herman Wonk, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial is a complex portrait of what war and its accompanying stress does to people. The play also questions the possibilities of ‘Absolute Truth’ and the inevitability of war, would be best suited to engage with it. While examining the tragedy of war this post-World War II courtroom drama it probes the psyche of those at the forefront of battle, indicting the view that war is a stepping-stone to self-aggrandizement. This play was first performed by Motley in 1989.

Day Two 21^st December 2009

Narasimhavatharam (Nangyarkoothu) - Natanakairali Iringalakuda - 4.00pm

Poet Jayadever’s better half Padmavathi narrates a tale. The tale is that of half man half lion. The story gets completed in three parts. This theatrical performance by Kapila has used the devices of Koodiyattom and Nangyar Koothu. This performance piece represents the classical tradition in Malayalam theatre.

Athentha - Sathyajit - Nataka Souhrtham Thrissur - 5.30pm

Every year, Every day, I am walking - (South Africa) - Mark Fleishman - Magnet Theatre Cape Town - 07.00 pm

It explores what it means to lose the safety and security of home as a result of war and the consequences of that irrevocable loss in the life of a young girl. It traces the story of a refugee mother and her young daughter in Africa who loses family and home brutally and irrevocably, is forced to journey to a new place through many dangers and uncertainties. It is a piece about dislocation, about what home means, about Africa, about loss and about the first tentative steps towards healing and recovery as they flee from war in their once peaceful village, crossing borders and countries Using the style of physical theatre, much of the story is told through movement - a method employed by Magnet Theatre to communicate across barriers of language and culture. The creation of the play Magnet Theatre was also inspired by The Suitcase Stories - a book that was produced as part of a creative therapy process with refugee children in Johannesburg.

Day Three 22^nd December 2009

Karanavarude Adhikaram (Power of an ancestor head) - Prabalan - Natakasangam Thrissur - 4.00pm

The Silence - Pradeep Mandur - Surasu Nataka Vedi - 5.00pm

MacBeki - South Africa - Mark Fleishman - Magnet Theatre Cape Town - 06.00 pm

This transgressive variation of "Macbeth" gives literal expression to Karl Marx’s famous maxim that "history repeats itself as tragedy and then as farce". "MacBeki" draws inspiration from Shakespeare’s drama’, it is a reworking of Shakespeare’s tale of ambition, intrigue, fear, loathing, power, deceit and greed and it exists independently of Macbeth. The several hilarious visual tricks and tableaux added contribute to the overall subversive nature of the piece. This version is set in Luthuli Castle and the last days of the reign of the old King Maduba. The air is thick with treachery, suspicion and dark dealings as MacBeki, with his trusted friend and confidante, Lady Manta, dream of power. Unlike Shakespeare, Pieter-Dirk Uys who wrote the text does not spill blood in his play. He makes us laugh at the transparency of the ruling elite who lie to protect themselves at all costs.

Sahyande Makan - The Elephant Project – India-Japan - Sankar Venkateswaran - Theatre Roots & Wings- Thrissur – 07.30 pm

Based on the poem by Vyloppilly Sreedhara Menon, the play depicts the conflict between internal and external realities as symbolized by an elephant reminiscing and hallucinating about his childhood. Set against the Temple Festivals of Kerala this turn out to be a multi-sensory and multi-lingual, inter-cultural construct, with the elephant portrayed by Japanese performer, Micari; who used her eyes, lips and body to animate many an unsaid emotion; and the silences seemed more powerful than the intermittent Japanese or Malayalam. Sankar uses a rich variety of instruments from Mizhavu to the Australian didgeridoo, to fireworks to recreate the feel of the Thrissur Pooram.

Day Four 23^rd December 2009

Basthukara - Narippatta Raju - Navakerala Kalasamithi - 4.00pm

Githaa - Kenya - Keith Pearson - The Theatre Company - 7.00 pm

A young woman is drawn into the world of a group of street performers and through a series of stories, through song, dance and dialogue in a mixture of English and Swahili and other vernacular tongues, she works out her survival in this tough but thrilling environment. The performance speaks in street slang and revolves around street issues woven using agile dance steps, music beats and lyrics, plenty of narration, something closer to traditional non sense poetry. Githaa tries to tackle many issues at the same time, a bit of child labor and exploitation, women liberation, illegal gang’s infidelity and even art as a metaphor of leadership. The production, which has an episodic structure, “examines pre- and post-colonial history and the lessons that might be learned today from our past”, and “strives to engage the audience’s imagination through symbol and metaphor”

This musical performance was created during the first year of a Ford Foundation-funded project.

Day Five 24^th December 2009

Kakkarassi - Pranavam Kottarakkara - 4.00pm

This play represents folk tradition of Kerala theatre. Kakkarissi is the blend of dance, enactment and music.

Sauti Kimya - Kenya - Keith Pearson - The Theatre Company - 7.00 pm

Sauti Kimya was originally inspired by the Taita community’s concept of the fight – a place where all conflict is put on hold, a place of resolution and reflection. The performance explores the use of modern day brags in Kenya through a layered texture of music, poetry, dance and dramatic action. – A show celebrating cultural and environmental life. The Audience members are invited to participate in an interactive workshop performance.

Day Six 25^th December 2009

Thazhvarayile Paattu (Valley Song) - P.A.M. Rasheed - Theatre of Good Hope - 4.00pm

Athirthikal (Boundaries) - Vinod, Kaladi - Dept. of Theatre, Sri Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kaladi - 5.00pm

Ayussinte Pusthakam – India - Suveeran - Ravivarma Kalanilayam Kerala - 7.00 pm

Ayussinte Pusthakam (The book of life) discovers and reconsiders the basic issues of sexuality and sin primarily raised by the novel, written by C.V.Balakrishnan. The play stands as an independent text with its dynamic but semantically loaded stream of situations. Committed only to the reality of the psychological realm, the play is an attempt to deconstruct the oppressive mechanism of religious orthodoxy. Symbols get fused into the totality of dramatic experience. Set in a village in Kerala, this play explores the ideas of family, priesthood, sex and marriage through the knotty relationships of a grandfather, his son and grandson. The play asks whether the Sin itself is a natural concept or a historical construct.

Day Seven 26^th December 2009

Bharathavakyam - Roy K.G – Rangachethana - 4.00pm

Zoo Story - Jayachandran C.K - 5.00pm

Hotel Mohanjadaro - Pakistan - Shahid Nadeem – Ajoka - 7.00 pm

Hotel Mohenjodaro” is based on a short story by Ghulam Abbas written around 1965 and turns out to be prophetic and contemporary in the new era of Jihad and Talibanization. It highlights the retrogressive and intolerant ideology of religious fundamentalists, propagating an orthodox, rigid interpretation of Islam, the acquiescence of the establishment and the disastrous consequences of following the logic of a theocratic state, a mindset of primitive thinking, deep-rooted prejudices, an irrational worldview, and a burning desire to destroy civilization and to self-annihilate. The story is an account of a TV reporter from a troubled tribal area, or from the scene of a devastating suicide bombing. This play is attempting to create a comic “elegy” for the victims of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism.

Day Eight 27^th December 2009

Karalmancharitham (Chavittu Natakam) - Kerala Chavittu Nataka Akademi- 4.00pm

When Hoona attacked France in BC 800, as instructed by Leo Marpappa, Karelman becomes the emporer. And later Karelman becomes the protector of the country and its people. This play represents a traditional phase in Malayalam theatre.

Baburaj - "Paaduka Paattukaara"- Sasidharan Naduvil - Act Lab Thrissur - 5.00pm

Sidhartha - India - M.G. Jothish: Abhinaya Theatre & Research Centre -7.00 pm

The play Sidhartha is a stylized adaptation of the celebrated novel by Nobel Laureate Herman Hesse, that captures the essence of philosophy, spirituality and the individual The enduring images, the choreography, music, costumes, , light and set design, the dynamism and the subtlety in the performance, makes the show a visual poetry on stage.

Day Nine 28^th December 2009

Panthamenthiya Pennungal - Mini I.G - Sunday Theatre Kozhikkode - 4.00pm

Chakki's Chankaran - Jayaprakas Kuloor - Manam Natakavedi - 5.00pm

Spinal Code - India - C.S. Deepan - Oxygen Theatre Company Thrissur - 6.00/ pm

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold has inspired this play which narrates the story of a murder revisited 27 years after its occurrence. On the wedding might of Angela and San Roman, roman discovers that his wife is not a virgin. Then her brothers started a revenge to kill the violator. The drama keeps oscillating between the past and present.

Burquavaganza – Pakistan -Shahid Nadeem – Ajoka -7.30pm

The satirical stage play "Burqavaganza" uses the image of the burqa as a metaphor for the double standards which exist in contemporary Pakistani society. Burqa is the image for the cover-ups in the society; it speaks about the hypocrisy and double standards, and reflects the feudal/tribal mindset. The play shows all characters (men and women) wearing burqas, including politicians, terrorist leaders and policemen. Issues addressed include gender discrimination, religious extremism, terrorism, love marriage and media programs promoting intolerance. Following protests from Islamist politicians, this play has now been banned in Pakistan.

Remember that Ajoka has performed its play "Bulha” in last year’s edition of ITFoK, 08 and they are coming back with two productions this year also.

Day Ten 29^th December 2009

Pachcha (Green) – Surjith - Abhinaya Theatre & Research Centre -4.00pm

Valedictory Ceremony @ 5.00pm

Thayambakathrayam lead by Padmasree Mattannoor Sankarankutty follows.

Ashibagee Eshei (When We Dead Awaken) – India - Rattan Thiyyam - Chorus Repertory Theatre, Manipur - 7.00pm

The festival concludes with the celebrated Indian director Rattan Thiyyam adapting Henrik Ibsen's last play, "When We Dead Awaken" (1899), - a 'dramatic epilogue' to Ibsen’s naturalism and a return to the poetic symbolism of his earlier plays. In the play, a sculptor suffers "sorrows for a forfeited life. Ashibagee Eshei" centers on the non-reality of characters, symbolism; and a lot of metaphysical references. In this adaptation set to the Manipuri milieu, scenes from the original play are picked up and interpolated without altering the storyline and disrupting the continuity, or Ibsen’s dialogues. The dramatic change of the set between acts, gestures and body language of the performers, the use of chorus, and the use of surrealistic elements makes this “a Manipuri 'Ibsen' play for the global audience," as suggested in Thiyam's directorial note.

Admission to the festival is controlled by delegate passes priced at 200 Rupees that can be obtained from the Akademi office or branches of Vysya Bank. The fee for delegate pass for students is Rs.100.

Antigone by Motley – the cold corpse of theatre to be buried

Sophocles, Antigone, Jean Anouilh, Satyadeb Dubey, Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak, Motley theatre Mumbai, and a house full audience filled with great expectations….How does it look like? A great show in the offing! But no, it turned out to be a tragedy, - a tragedy that not even good theatre resulted.

It was 7.00 pm 27^th November 2009, Jt Pac Thripunithura, Kerala and Motley Theatre presenting their play Antigone, an adaptation of Jean Anouilh play directed by the veteran Satyadeb Dubey, with a star-steaded cast from Naseeruddin Shah, Benjamin Gilani, Ratna pathak and others. It was a dismay that such a feeble performance resulted. Still as a ritual the audience clapped, exchanged 2 or 3 weak smiles, mostly silence and sighs around, and left the place disappointed.

The performance has nothing much to show, other than the celebrities as cast. It was no tragedy, not even melodrama; there was nothing political (as expected from an Anouilh version), nothing spectacular as expected from a Greek play, neither poetic, yes it has a lot of dialogues that was about life, politics, happiness, rituals, absurdity, idealism, heroism, and what not. The whole performance was drowned in the cascade of dialogues that did not carry the meaning effectively.

The performance did not succeed to transform the text to action, the written text to a performance text, a dramatic text to an enacted text. The first half was dull and cold like the corpse of Polynices remaining unburied. Benjamin Gilani was summing up the introduction as fast as he could, but without passion so that it did not reach the audience and gets registered there.

Antigone appeared like a weak fragile creature, little crazy and foolish. The characterization was wavering in between playfulness, brief moments of heroism, but mostly looked lost in fate or in an indefinite inaction. It was neither confusion, nor countering the arguments of Creon, but inaction – ‘doing nothing’. The acting, body dynamics and overall performance of Ratna Pathak resulted in a weak character, tired and aged, not even standing upright on her backbone; but flimsy, fragile, a chicken-hearted soul, at times innocent and timid like a kid, who cannot understand the gravity of her action or the meaning of the discourse happening in dialogues.

In the second half Naseeruddin Shah tried to cover the coldness of the corpse with his experience and histrionics that is natural to him. But he too was not succeeding enough to shoulder the otherwise dead static play on his shoulders. He too looked uncertain what to do, - a tragic hero, a loving uncle, a tyrant, a manipulator, a philosopher who reads through the kitchen politics and truth of life.…The preciseness of gestures, the rhythm and timing of actions, the clarity and precision of characterization, and link between the internal of the character to the external behavior etc. that are the signature of the acting of the legendary Naseeruddin Shah was missing in this play. He was speaking his dialogues – of course with clarity of diction – and moving around pointing and shaking his hands to Antigone, leaning and sitting on the table and chair, stooping as a hopeless uncle, and wavering on his feet at moments of tragedy, and all these action was not connected to create Creon, the Sophoclean tragic hero or the political manipulator/tyrant of Anouilh. His character of Creon does not represent the ‘State’ through the acting, physicality, but is a loving middle-class uncle, who argues out to his insipid niece urging to keep her away from some stupid idiosyncrasy and fails.

It is clear from the editing of the text that the emphasis of the performance was on the argumentative unit between Creon and Antigone which allows the actors space to ‘perform’; the final portion and the deaths of Haemon and that of Eurydice is summarized by quick narration. The famous distinction between ‘tragedy’ and ‘melodrama’ spoken by the chorus in the Anouilh text is underlined in the dialogues; ironically, the scene of confrontation between the pragmatism of Creon and Idealism of Antigone slowly proceeds to melodrama.

The technical aspects also are not that much worthy to discuss. The columns, table, chair, and other materials look wooden and match the wooden coldness of the production! The mostly bare stage looked empty and vacuum, even if great talents were occupying the stage, and the lights should have at least hidden the vacuum and focused the audience attention to the actors. The space and time of action is nowhere, not Thebes, nor France or India, nor anywhere specific; it does not mean that it reveals a universal truth.

The costumes are also a mix up western outfits, cowboy boots; contemporary army uniform, north Indian Shervani and shawls, Muslim veil and Burqua etc and do not pitch the play anywhere specific.

In brief I have to summarize that this production from the highly rated and respected company of artists do not belong to good theatre, but is very ordinary. This is not the best of Indian theatre not even unto the ordinary material from beginners. It is high time that someone tell Motley to have a serious look onto the kind, nature and quality of the theatre they are doing and is expected from them. Forget about the rave reviews and blind superlatives from the print/visual media that the stardom of Naseeruddin shah and others in the company fetches

Also I am to clarify that I am not a person who enjoy criticizing others; I have taken this response and position after much thought; I have to tell nothing but the truth, in the good spirit of it.

Sanskrit Plays; Text and Performance

Below is the gist of my Talk on Sanskrit plays, text and performance at Kadavallur, Trichur Kerala, on 16th November 09, as part of the famous Kadavallur Anyonyam. The performance of the play Karnnabharam followed after the talk.

Text and performance are the two aspects of dramatic expression. The relationship between these two and their divergence is always a matter of discussion, in all traditions of dramatic endeavors- Text is the domain of the playwright (words, language) and the other is that of the actor (acting, performance, histrionics). In classical and Sanskrit theatre this discourse gains special meaning and relevance.

The first one (Text) is permanent, intelligent and poetic; the second one (performance) lives for a moment, emotional in nature, is crafty, skillful and dexterous in nature. The poet is more philosophical and he speaks about human life and its fate through his writing. In this pursuit he transforms the stories of Gods and Noble Kings down-to-earth, so as to portray the human situation- he brings human elements, character and dilemmas into the story of gods and their great lives to discuss the conflicts and limitations of human life in its social, political and philosophical perspective. Thus the playwright brings down the Gods to the Earth, demystifies them, humanizes their story to match the life of the reader and relate to his mortal, experiential reality.

At the same time, the actor performing the same role is trying to grow into a higher plane, to lift him to the upper limits, to grow from the ordinary human situation to match the super-human persona and supreme entities – it is an extension upwards. He cannot ‘act’ and behave in his mundane/ordinary life style to represent such ‘great’ characters; the audience may not ‘believe’ nor accept such a blunt and morbid portrayal. He achieve this ascend with his craft, special talents, histrionics, and other attributes that ordinary human in the audience can not achieve, cultivated by intense, systematic training and hard work. In this attempt to grow upwards, the performance uses techniques, craft, and customs that may be symbolic and/or representative, that can cover up the mundane ordinary entity and persona of the performer. It can be a ‘forged, and bogus’ existence, - a divine lie’ - tricky and crafty and at the same time exceptional, extraordinary. The ability of the actor to dance, sing, perform extraordinary feats, do jugglery, mastery over language and literature, power to improvise and interpret, sense and application of humor, and similar traits make this upward growth from a usual being to a performer blessed with extra-human power and privilege.

In short while the text tries to bring down the Gods down to the human nature, the performance tries to lift the actor/character to the gods or an equivalent supreme situation. One can say that this is true to any classic drama; be it Greek or Sanskrit and even Shakespeare. May be, the elevation and the desire of the actor to be worshiped in the star-status is embedded here.

The role of the director is to make these two perceptions moving in opposite directions, to blend and unite; to relate the meaning of the text with the aesthetics of performance and with the craft of the actor. That means to relate the text and its meaning to the reality of life and the period, but expressed through the actor’s craft, abilities and resources.

Sanskrit drama has a history from 2^nd century to 11^th century with great playwrights like Sudraka (3^rd-6^th century), Kalidasa 4^th or 5^th century; Harsa 7^th; Mahendravikramavarman 7^th , Kulasekhara Varman -11^th etc. A close look onto this history reveals that the progress of Sanskrit drama is in leaps, not in a continuum... The change from Kalidasa to Kulasekhsra Varma is vast and diverse; the Sanskrit drama of Bhasa is much different from that of Kalidasa, which is very much different from that of Mahendravikrama Varma or Kulasekhara. There are more differences between them than similarities. We can see that the focus is being shifted from the text to the performance, as we move from the history of Sanskrit theatre from 2^nd century to the 11^th). So where to place the tradition of Sanskrit drama and its performance? I can very well say that the notion of a single notion of a monolithic structure for Sanskrit drama/theatre is false; there is not ‘one Sanskrit theatre’, but there are many Sanskrit theatres to make it in the right perspective!

The texts of Sanskrit drama available today do not suggest a clear idea about the mode of performance of the period. What is known to us is from treatise like Natyasastra, excerpts of plays and other related material, commentaries and from references regarding performance; but that too mostly focuses on the abilities and skills the actor, his training etc.

Natyasastra and its interpretation by Abhinavagupta are giving light onto the performance aspects of Sanskrit tradition. Here we find singing and dancing was getting fused into acting; or the concept of acting/performance is a fusion of the three.

Then we have the living traditions like Kutiyattam which are derivatives of Sanskrit tradition of performance, interactions and extensions on performance by the Kerala theatre; it seems to be enlarged and blown-up version of Sanskrit drama itself (this enlargement and magnification might have been an inherent characteristic of Sanskrit tradition itself.)

In Kutiyattam, the text and performance have completely separate lives, priorities and approaches in attributes like dialogue, story and elaboration of the plot. Elaboration of a Sloka into a days performance complete within itself, and placing an act as an independent performance, may hamper the concepts of plot development and its effect – the basics of the dramatic theory based on the Rasasatra, characterized by Panchasandhi, Avastha and Prakriti as elaborated and defined in Natyasastra itself; the wholistic understanding and continuity of the plot development is submerged in this kind of elaboration, characteristic to Kutiyattam tradition of performance. In other words the text gets underdone with performance. And the journey of Sanskrit theatre from the beginning through the centuries was precisely doing this.

Sanskrit Theatre as a Ritual

It is understood that the performance of Sanskrit plays happened along/with ritual sacrifices, and then later was developed/ substituted as a ritual itself. (Remember the concepts of Natya-Yajna or Natya-Veda). We can identify the various elements and characteristics of ritual being incorporated into the body of performance. In a ritual the most important attribute is to the exact execution of even the minute details according to set rules, since the ‘result’ or ‘outcome’ of a ritual depends on its correct execution. Any deviation or an erratic action will be a ‘sin’ or at least a ‘malpractice’ that cannot be allowed. This kind of a demeanor of perfect execution and detailing in a ritual, results in emphasizing the form over its meaning. As in ritual, the performances of a Sanskrit play also emphasizes on the form over the meaning communicated. In the text of a play and the literary form the meaning is the supreme.

How much Sanskrit is present in a Sanskrit play?

The big amount of Prakrit spoken by lesser characters like heroin, women, and ordinary mortals (Kutiyattam the Vidushaka speaks fully in Malayalam), in concord with the ‘Sanskrit tradition’ encoded in Natyasastra, makes a Sanskrit play a mixture of Sanskrit and other vernaculars in terms of the spoken language. Thus the term Sanskrit in connection with Sanskrit drama does not relate to the issue of the language, it is more to the philosophy, aesthetics, sociology, politics, and the technique of performance. It is about an attitude and ideology than of a language, which leaves out lots of spaces for further understanding of the form and practice of this genre of theatre itself.

Delhi Ibsen Festival 2009

I would like Spacing Theatre to be an open forum/journal where anyone can write about theatre/performing arts, share news/views/experiences around us. It would be great that many writers from around the world can write and send relevant material to me so that it get posted here. Elizabeth Ike has send me a first report on the Ibsen festival at New Delhi which you read below. Thanking Elizabeth and other future writers to write in Spacing theatre, I reiterate that the ideas/opinions expressed in such articles will be of the writer and not of spacing theatre.

Delhi Ibsen Festival 2009 – Elizabeth Ike

The Delhi Ibsen Festival was started in 2008 by The Dramatic Art & Design Academy (DADA) under the auspices of the Norwegian Embassy. The focus of the festival therefore is to look and explore the dimensions of theatre through a playwright like Ibsen, who is considered to be at par with Shakespeare and the playwrights of such stature. The Delhi Ibsen Festival will be a calendar event which takes place in the month of December each year, and will continue for the next four years.

Last year, the festival showcased 6 Indian and International productions. This included commissioning of 3 established directors from around the country – Neelam Mansingh, Ratan Thiyam and Anuradha Kapur, to do a new Ibsen production of their choice. DADA considers the commissioning productions of Ibsen as an essential part of my presenting a new approach to Ibsen’s writings, in a modern and contemporary context. The impact of the Delhi Ibsen Festival 2008, was extraordinary and generated much discussion in theatre circuits in Delhi, and other parts of India. This year, we grow in strength, and the audiences will get to see 9 productions of Ibsen – 5 Indian, and 5 International.

DADA is now making preparations for the second Delhi Ibsen Festival in December 2009. Much time has passed since the early years when directors used to do Ibsen in the 60's and 70's. Now not only has the theatre movement in India matured, but distinctive styles in the work of a second and third generation of theatre directors after Independence, is much more evolved and identifiable.   These directors who began their professional work in the later 1960’s and early 1970’,s stylistically developed with their own personal signatures, and identities.

The relevance of Ibsen in the Indian context has also changed. His contribution to Indian theatre from the 1930’s to the mid-1960’s had undoubtedly been seminal, but the challenge of doing an Ibsen in the 21st century is different. Ibsen's writing now has a different resonance in the contemporary scenario of Indian theatre, in a country that celebrates an emerging democracy, grappling with a new social and political order. Re-looking at Ibsen will be more interesting now from a socio-economic and political viewpoint.

One of the highlights of the Delhi Ibsen Festival 2009, is the decision to present the work of 4 young directors from diverse backgrounds, with well-defined individual preferences and a predominantly modern approach. The festival also celebrates plays from many Asian countries, which will present an Asian Inter-cultural perspective, rather than looking at Ibsen from a Western standpoint.

The festival highlights the work of a younger generation of urbanized Indian theatre directors, selected for their modern approach to theatre. Hence, 4 young and upcoming directors from diverse backgrounds have been selected. Each of them has their own distinctive styles, and has developed new and path breaking approaches to theatre. Their craft is more identifiable to audiences and evolves into unique pieces, stylized to suit the modern day set up. In our opinion, the re-looking at Ibsen in the current context will be exciting as well as challenging.

The Ibsen Festival is being organized in December this year, from the 3rd till the 13th. Following are the details :

Dates : 3rd - 13th 2009

Venue : Kamani, LTG, Meghdoot Auditorium

Time : 7pm onwards

Contact Details : 9871419481, 9958111319, 9810166643

E Mail : info@delhibsenfestival.com Website : www.delhibsenfestival.com

Elizabeth Ike is doing her M.Phil In theatre and performance studies, at the school of arts and Aesthetics, JNU, New Delhi.

Our Stage - Pleasures and Perils of Theatre Practice in India

I am glad to share the news of release of a book which really discusses, trying to theorize, critique, and lament on the state of theatre practice in India. This is an off-shoot of a seminar that was called ’Not-the-Drama-Seminar’ held at Ninasam, Heggodu, Karnataka  in March 2008, organized by The India Theatre Forum. The book summarizes what all were the ‘happenings’, discourses, ‘performances’, monologues and dialogues at the event. Flipping through the pages of the book I could revisit all the passion, heat, dust and the words/faces of people/characters, theatre activists/theoreticians I could meet/glance/view/see in the event. And I remember the warmth of the whole locale and the near ones with whom there were long discussions that were not echoed aloud to a camera or a recorder. I remember that the event clarified my position in/of theatre further, and was revitalized.

A note on the book is added below. You can read my arguments in the response to the session ‘Assertions’

THE BOOK – OUR STAGE

Theatre practice in India is like the country itself—vast, diverse, pulsating. Theatre in India happens anywhere and everywhere—in badly designed auditoria, in schools and colleges, in parks and gardens, in restaurants, on rooftops, in the open fields, on the street corner, and even, sometimes, on moving trains. At times, it gives pure delight and touches aesthetic peaks, at others, it is brazen, rude, outspoken, blunt—or both simultaneously.
And yet, surprisingly, the actual practice of theatre in India—beyond the work of this or that practitioner remains vastly under-theorized.
In OUR STAGE: Pleasures and perils of theatre practice in India, leading theatre practitioners, administrators and scholars, social scientists and activists interrogate theatre practice in India around the themes Locales, Experiments, Assertions, Pathologies, New Realities, and Training Institutions. They also interrogate the implicit and explicit premises and projections of the 1956 Drama Seminar. Together, they give a fascinating insight on how theatre happens in India, as well on the most important issues animating this practice.

CONTRIBUTERES
Edited by Sudhanva Deshpande (of Leftword and Jana Natya Manch, Delhi), Akshara K (of Akshara Prakashana, a prominent Kannada publishing house) and Sameera Iyengar (a Ph.D focusing on theatre in India from the University of Chicago, and Director Projects, Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai), the book has contributions from Aijaz Ahmad, Akshara K. V., Amitesh Grover, Anmol Vellani, Aparna Dharwadker, Chandradasan, Channakeshava, Dakxin Bajrange, Devi, Ekbal Ahmed, G. P. Deshpande, Gopal Guru, Koushik Sen, Makarand Sathe, Moloyashree Hashmi, Prabir Purkayastha, Pralayan, Ram Bapat, S. Raghunandana, S. Ramanujan, Sadanand Menon, Sanjoy Ganguly, Shanta Gokhale, Shiv Visvanathan, Shyamala Vanarase, Siddharth Narrain, Sudhanva Deshpande, Sundar Sarukkai, Sushma Deshpande, Vikram Iyengar, and Vivek Shanbhag.

PRODUCT DETAILS

• Paperback : 236 pages
• Author/Editor : Sudhanva Deshpande, Akshara K. V. and Sameera Iyengar
• Year of Publication : 2009
• Publisher : Tulika Books, New Delhi
• Language : English
• Product Dimension : 9.5 x 6.25 inches
• Shipping Weight : 500
• ISBN Number : 9788189487614
• Price : Rs 350

The book is available at www.leftword.com, and that the url for the book page is
http://www.leftword.com/bookdetails.php?BkId=269&type=PB

The photos are moments from the seminar…..

Karnnabharam @Kadavallur Anyonyam

Lokadharmi presents the play Karnnabharam at Kadavallur, Trichur, Kerala as part of Anyonyam at 7.00 pm, on 16th November 2009. There will be a talk on ‘Sankrit plays – text and stage’ by Chandradasan, before the play.

KARNNABHARAM (The anguish of Karnna), The Malayalam adaptation of the Sanskrit Classic Performed by Lokadharmi Kochi Kerala is based on the translation into Malayalam by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar. The Music is scored by Bijibal, Lighting by Gireesh Menon, art by Anup S Kalarikkal, and the Design & Direction is done by Chandradasan.

• This play has won the prestigious awards for Best play, best stage design & best costume design from Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2008.
• Also nominated for best Actor, best Ensemble and best Choreography in the festival

Lokadharmi had performed Karnnabharam widely all over in India including Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh, Kolkota (Bengal), Mysore, Bangaluru, Gulbarga, (Karnataka), Jagdalpur (Chatisgad), Cuttack (Orissa), Patna (Bihar), New Delhi, and Kurukshethra (Hariyana).

This play is performed widely in major theatre festivals all over India including Bharath Rang Mahotsav New Delhi 2006.

This is the 321^st show of the play.

The artists traveling to perform the play are Sudheer Babu, VR Selvaraj, Sijin Sukumar, Madan Kolavil, Sebastian K Abraham, Charu Narayanan, Jolly Antony, Shyju T Hamsa, Vysakh Lal, Sumesh Chittooran, Santhosh Piravam, Ajaikumar Thiruvankulam, Sanosh Palluruthy, Aadarsh Madhav, Jebin Jesmes, Gireesh Menon, and Chandradasan.

LOST IN FAKE HEAVENS

This is the report that came in New Indian express daily Cochin edition on 3rd October 2009, as a curtain raiser to our premiere of the play Abhayarthikal. Photo Gireesh Menon

LOKADHARMI will present its new play "Abhayarthikal" on october 3 and 5 at Changampuzha Park,Edapally.Based on the drama written by G.Shankara Pillai,"Abhayarthikal" throws light on the disintegration of family and social structure.

      Designed and directed by Prof.Chandradasan,it will be a new experience for Kochiites as this  highly Ibsenesque play will be performed in open air.Though the drama was written in 1965,it has rarely been performed in Kerala.

      Three different plots are interwoven in this play and it depicts the social situation and concerns of the Kerala society at that period.The arrangement and structure look realistic in nature and the characters are often caricatures.The play is set in a village railway station in the darkness of night.All the characters are waiting for a train to come and have their own reasons for being there.The play looks into the refugee in every human and the sense of insecurity irrespective of "having a home'.There is the presence of some north-indian refugees settled nearby and there presence reaches the stage mostly through sounds and songs.

         The main characters in the play are Janaki,a woman in her 30s,Prabhakaran,a young man in search of his lady love and an old man waiting for his son to return from the army. There are also a bridegroom,a politician and Arishttam Kittan,an illicit liquor peddler.

         The play hints at the breaking up and disintegration of the social structure based on solid families.Janaki,the heroine,breaks the family and comes out.The encounter between Janaki and her husband in the final sequence is eloquent enough to suggest the falsity of the concept of a smooth and enduring family set up.

       The setting and atmosphere are more important than the characters in communicating the feel and meaning of the play.The rural railway station,the cement benches,the tree with flowers,the ground with a spread of fallen flowers,the lamp post etc enhance the significance of the whole enactment.The play takes place mostly in the dark and the characters have the tendency to merge into the darkness.

        The play breaks away from the proscenium and is performed underneath a tree.The treatment of the play is direct and simple,and avoids all the theatrical jargon,clichés and set models of blocking, and technique.

     The play will begin at 6:30 pm.

The blog world is his stage

This article is on the blog Spacing Theatre published in New Indian Express, Written by Asha P Nair.

Asha P Nair

First Published : 13 Oct 2009 01:12:00 AM IST

He is married to theatre. A director, actor and writer. Winner of various awards. But Chandradasan, the artistic director of Lokadharmi theatre company in Kochi, is also a strong presence in the blogosphere.

Spacing Theatre, his blog, would not just let you know about his new plays, but also about theatre activities happening all around. The blogwww.chandradasan.blogspot.com is slowly turning into a theatre guide for connoisseurs of drama. “When I began, it was meant as a production diary of my plays. Then I started putting in reviews of the plays I liked, the important theatre festivals happening and about my new plays. Now, I receive umpteen comments, which kind of motivates me to frequently blog,’’ says Chandradasan from Kochi.

His latest play, ‘Abhayarthikal’, when staged recently, had three theatre lovers from Bangalore come down just to see the play. They had been following his blog ardently. This has happened with Chandradasan more than once. “It has become a source of easy communication and a platform where relationships are made,’’ he says.

When his popular play ‘Karnabharam’ travelled to Kolkata for an event, Chandradasan did not fill his blog pages with that. Instead,  he wrote about a puppet play by a Slovenian theatre group which had caught his attention there. Reading it would make one want to see a puppet play.

‘The girl in the photograph’, a play done by Mazhavillu (the children’s theatre wing of Lokadharmi), the rural theatre at Thampakamukku, the production journals of ‘Abhayarthikal’, a tribute written for master playwright Vijay Tendulkar, review of ‘Kalivesham’  directed by Narippata Raju... Chandradasan blogs about all facets of theatre and happenings, which he thinks are worth sharing.

“There is a limitation in news sharing in general media; in blogs,  there is a reach that touches international levels,’’ he says. True; for, the appearance of his essay in a book published by Routledge had received comments from across the globe, minimizing the world to a little computer screen. It may be the reason why Chandradasan writes his blog in English.

Language, after all, is only secondary in blogging. There is a community group in the name of Lokadharmi, which Chandradasan keeps active just like his personal blog. But, one day, he would like his blog also to be a community platform. “I don’t mind if somebody interested in theatre wants to post a well-written piece in my blog and make it a sharing space,’’ he says. Probably, this is what he meant by Spacing Theatre.

anil.asha@gmail.com

Courtesy; The New Indian Express 13 October 2009…

The many faces of alienation

 

ANAND HARIDAS

‘Abhayarthikal’ written by G. Sankara Pillai, which was staged in Kochi, has many parallels with Ibsen’s ‘Doll House.’

Photo:Vipin Chandran

Modern interpretation: ‘Abhayarthikal.’

Who is a refugee? The play ‘Abhayarthikal,’ written by G. Sankara Pillai in 1965, and directed by Chandradasan, attempted to answer this question. The play was staged recently at the Changampuzha Park, Edappally.

The language used in the play was old, at times archaic, Malayalam but the diction was contemporary. It seems that the director of the play stuck to the original text and the dialogue, but attempted to interpret the play in a modern context.

Disintegration of society

“The play has parallels to Ibsen’s ‘Doll’s House’ and its philosophy. It is about the disintegration of social structure and failure of the concept of family,” says Chandradasan. The play is set at night in a railway station, when three different persons await the train. It has Janaki breaking free of the family bondage. She takes the initiative to get her husband and his lover married and then leaves the family behind. She finds an old man who is waiting for his son to return. The endless waiting for his son, who died as a soldier, has taken the man beyond the world of reality. So is the youth who is searching for his love – the daughter of a porter at the railway station. The youth refuses to acknowledge that she has been married off to someone else. Janaki is shown empathising with these two. But Janaki’s problem is her clash with the real world and the struggle to leave it behind. Like Ibsen’s Nora, Janaki too refused to listen to her husband’s pleas to return. The similarities between the two characters were loud enough, making the sound of a door closing at the end of the play, an obvious reference to Ibsen’s play, redundant.

“The original text had a suggestion that Janaki jumped in front of the train, ending her life. But we used the sound of the door to signify that she is moving on with life,” says Chandradasan.

A significant presence in the play is a group of refugees. The director used the proscenium at the venue as the stage for the refugees, while the main performing area was shifted to among the audience. But with the gypsy group remaining alienated, with their gibberish and having no particular connection in the progress of the narration, it did not have much relevance as such. The play attempts to convey the message that even within a family, those who have lost the link with realities end up as refugees – though not physically.

Madhuben performed well as Janaki, supported ably by Harikrishnan S. as the porter and Sajeer Khan as the mentally-challenged youth. Chandradasan also attempted special lighting to highlight the play of light and shade. “Only spot lights were used to accentuate the expressions of the actors,” says Chandradasan. Prof. Sankara Pillai pioneered experimental theatre in Malayalam. The play was staged in association with Changampuzha Samskarika Kendram and Vyapari Vyavasai Ekopana Samithi, Devankulangara, Edappally, with financial support from Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi.

Note. Courtesy Friday Review of The Hindu Thiruvanathapuram, o9 cotober 2009

Premiere of Abhayarthikal (Refugees) on 3rd and 5th October.

My new play Abhayarthikal by G.Sankara Pillai is premiered on the 3rd and 5th of October at Changampuzha park Edappalli, at 6.30 pm. The play spotlights on the disintegration on the social structure based on the notion of a ‘happy family’ which is truly based on a heap of lies and betrayals. The play has parallels with Ibsen’s Dolls House and its philosophy.

G SANKARA PILLAI (1930-89) – PLAYWRIGHT

Prof. G.Sankara Pillai was one of the most versatile and towering personalities of Indian literature and the theatre scene. Belonging to a generation of eminent Malayalam writers deeply rooted in the rich soil of Kerala, he ascended great heights and imbibed the cultures of other regions. A pathfinder and leader of great stature, he was committed to create bridges between the theatre of the Earth and Contemporary sensibility through his writings, theatre direction and teaching. He initiated a new movement in Kerala and elsewhere.

He was a pioneer of experimental Malayalam theatre and founder member of the Nataka Kalari movement and later the founder director of the School of Drama at Calicut University in 1977. He combined in him several roles such as playwright, actor, director, theatre historian, orator, writer, and trainer of theatre enthusiasts, folklore researcher, and editor. He became a prophet of the Malayalam theatre heralding a new era in theatre practices, play-writing and play appreciation.

Prof. Sankara Pillai was Chairman of the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi, and recipient of several national and international awards.
G. Sankara Pillai’s main plays include Snehadutan, Vivaham Svargattil, Mrigathrushna, Puja-muri, Bharata vakyam, Bandi, Manaltharikal, Avataranam Bhrantalayam, Karutta Daivatte Tedi, and Kiratam.

DIRECTORS NOTE

Abhayarthikal (Refugees) is a play written by G. Sankara Pillai in 1965 that is rarely performed.

Three different plots interwoven in this play depicts the social situation and concerns of the Kerala society of that period. The arrangement and structure of the play looks realistic in nature; but realism transcends to deeper layers of understanding about human condition and life.

The play is set in a village railway station in the darkness of a night. All the characters are waiting for a train to come for various reasons.

The play looks into the refugee in every human and the sense of insecurity irrespective of ‘having a home’. There is a socio-political rationale that exemplifies the story. The play hints on the breaking up and disintegration of the social structure based on solid families. Janaki, the heroine, breaks the family and comes out. The encounter between Janaki and her husband in the final sequence is eloquent enough to suggest the falsity of the concept of a smooth and enduring family set up. This unit reminds on the parallels between Nora in Ibsen’s Doll’s House with Janaki. Towards the end, in both the plays, the wife talks directly into the face of the husband for the first time in their life, and dare to break out of the marital bondage to ascertain freedom. In both the plays the husbands are shocked and plead their wives to return to the warmth and safety of the home, which the woman denies and walks out.

There economic reasons for this social transition is evident. The porter married his daughter to a better alliance on financial reasons. Appu, the son of the old man has to join the army who is eventually killed, is also out of economic compulsions. The peddler of country-liquor and the ‘leader’ are also the outcome of the deplorable economic and social situation. The reason for the refugees to migrate to an alien land may also be the lack of survival prospective in their birthplace.

The most important presence in the play is that of the refugees- the metaphors in the text and performance; the links and threads that connect the refugees and the characters of the play are attempted in the production. Their presence, song and utterances in gibberish adds to the meaning of the play.

There is a mystical and philosophical component in being a refugee. A refugee is almost a gypsy, a group of people sharing the space, sufferings and possibilities; but not bonded to each other strongly as in a conventional family; they may be blood- relatives, or unfamiliar and has come together on the demand of time and state of affairs -- a group of people abandoned and living together with its own laws of ethics and customs. They live in temporary arrangements and are always in a threshold to move and that gives immense freedom to make life lighter for them.

We could observe the same slackening of bonds in present day families too, where migration is the order of the new global situation. It is normal that children migrate to other countries and places far away in marriage, job, business etc and the notion of a single family with grandparents, husband, wife and children living together as a unit is already broken; what remains is the skeleton structure of the edifice. Thus contemporary life has made all of us into refugees irrespective of the status and other amenities, and this play is speaking exactly the same bizarre fact. The revealing of this unpleasant reality may be emotionally shocking and at the same time a purgative action. Thus the play is spotlighting on the disintegration and rupture of a conventional social structure.

The characters in the play are depicted as typical caricatures. But to communicate the depth of the situation and its gravity, the actor has to carry the characters beyond caricaturing and that is going to be the challenge for the actor.

The setting and atmosphere is more important than the characters in communicating the feel and meaning of the play. The rural railway station, the cement benches, the tree with flowers, the ground with a spread of fallen flowers, the lamp post, the darkness surrounding, the moonlight filtering, possibility of a fence of cactus etc enhance the significance to the whole enactment. The place is almost dark except the moonlight. The characters have the tendency to merge into the darkness than the pool of light.

The play breaks away from the proscenium and is performed in an open space preferably underneath a tree. The treatment of the play is direct and simple, and avoids all the theatrical jargons, clichés and set models of blocking, and routine play-making techniques. A group of new actors who are naïve, but instilled with energy and passion to theatre is trying to create this unique transition with their body, mind, experiences and emotion, to travel to the multiple layers of meaning spread under the surface of the written text. The performance is devised discussion, Improvisations, and by sharing of experiences. The process of preparation of this play was a special one to all involved, the artists and the director, where mutuality of meanings/experiences where reciprocated, an occasion for learning and comprehension.

THE ARTISTS

Onstage we have Sukanya Shaji /M Madhubhen • Shaiju T Hamza /Sajeer Khan • TR Jayasankar / Anilkumar • Johny Thottunkal / Thomas Koshy • Harikrishnan S • Vysakh Lal • Ajikumar Thiruvankulam / Madan Kolavil and Antony TA along with Selvaraj.V.R • PM Vijayan • Charu Narayanan • Sree Parvathi Prasad • Ammu • Karthika and KN Meenakshi . Most of them are making a debut with Lokadharmi and is set to make a lasting impression on the stage with their histrionics and stage presence.

Among the technical crew I have a mix of experience with debutants. On lighting Jolly Antony is making his first independent work with a challenging play. Vinod B Gangadhar who does costumes and Charu Narayanan who does choreography are also new faces.

Set, Art & Properties are shouldered by Anoop S Kalarikkal with the assistance from Harikrishnan S. Prasanth Madhav is at the sound control, with Madan Kolavil doing the production works, documentation and Public relation. The gypsy songs and music in gibberish are devised by PM Vijayan and VR Selvaraj.

The sound and music direction is by the much experienced Bijibal who has established his presence in the theatre and film music of Kerala.

Anne Dubose from France has contributed by the workshop to arrive at movements that lead to the choreography of the play.

The production is acknowledging the Courtesy of Changampuzha Samskarika Kendram, & Vyapari Vyavasai Ekopana Samithi, Devankulangara, Edappalli for their support . The production is done with the financial support from Sangeet Natak Akademi New Delhi.

Noted screen writer John Paul will be the chief guest on 3rd, and prof M Thomas Mathew on 5th eve, to speak on the play Abhayarthikal and G Sankara Pillai.

Production & performance • Lokadharmi, Kochi

Design & Direction • Chandradasan

Children's Theatre Festival and workshop at Rangaprabhath opens with ‘Girl in the Photograph’

Rangaprabhath organizes a five day Children's Theatre festival and workshop to commemorate the second death anniversary of its founder President Kochunarayana Pillai from the 27^th of September to the first of October 2009. The festival will take place at the campus of Rangaprabhath Alunthara Venjaramoodu, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The festival is organized with the help of South Zone Cultural Centre Thanjavoor, and Sangeet Natak Akademi New Delhi.

The inaugural function will be attended by Prabhakaran Pazhassi the secretary of Sangeetha Nataka Academy Trissoor, S Ramanujam, and Chandradasan among others.

The 5 day workshop will start at 10 am on the 27^th with the veteran director S.Ramanujam as the director, and Asok Sasi, S Anilkumar and KS Geetha as assistant directors.

The Festival will start with the show of Girl in The Photograph, performed by the children of Mazhavillu, the children's theatre wing of Lokadharmi, and is directed by Shirley Somasundaran. This festival is important as all the active Children's theatre groups are of Kerala is performing here.

The Schedule of the festival is

27^th September 7.30 pm Girl in the photograph - Shirley Somasundaran - Mazhavillu Kochi,

28^th September 7.00 pm Joseph Neenal Vazhatte - Gopi Kuttikkol - Sunday theatre Kasargod

8.00 pm Nizhal - S Anilkumar;Rangaprabhath

29^th September 7.00 pm Kalippattangal - KV Ganesh –Rangachethana, Trissoor

8.00 pm Kunjichirakukal - KV Ganesh - Navarang Palakkadu

30^th September 7.00 pm Padapadam Pappadam – Aluntrhara G Krishna Pillai - Aruma Childrens theatre, Ayirooppara

8.00 pm Raksha Purushan – Prof. N Rajan Nair - Kalavedi Trivandrum

1^st October 7.30 pm Nidhiyum Neethiyum - S Anilkumar - Rangaprabhath.

It is natural to expect the presence of G Sankara Pillai in Rangaprabhath and its activities since it is one the dream projects the great theatre missionary dreamt and worked for. Among the plays performed in the festival three are penned by him, Nizhal, Rakshapurushan and Nidhiyum Neethiyum of which Rakshapurushan is an adult play. One play –Kunjichirakukal- is written by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar. Both the children's plays of G Sankara Pillai are performed by Rangaprabhath, the playwrights dream-place with/for children and both are structured around a grandma narrating stories to kids.

‘Nizhal’ (Shadow)

The play throws light on to the foolishness of King and his courtiers. They follow the shadow of the queen’s lost Diamond necklace. There comes a prophet and he helps them to find out the truth behind the shadows. He invokes them not to follow the shadow, but the truth. “Men are blind,” the sage prophet says, “they go after shadows and reflections forgetting the real treasures of life.”

‘Nidhiyum Neethiyum’ (Treasure and Justice)
The play is a fight in between good and evil, meant to purify the heart of the students audience and highlights the importance of adopting truthful means in life.

‘The Girl in the Photograph’

The girl is Kim Phuc, the little nine year old, running naked down a road, screaming in agony from the jellied gasoline coating her body and burning through skin and muscle down the bone, running through the burning streets of Vietnam.

And the photographer is Nick Ut who won the Pulitzer Prize for capturing the collective conscience of the whole world against the brutality of war, through this single picture, – the one photograph that captured the horrific nature of Vietnam War.

Her village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam was napalmed that day in 1972. It would take many years, and 17 operations to save her life. And when she finally felt well enough to put it behind her, that very photograph would make her a victim, all over again.

This play in Malayalam, enacted by 25 children, narrates the story of agony and survival, pays a floral tribute to the war victims, and sends out a strong message that the prey of war is always the children,- the next generation. The play was also about John Plummer who dropped the bomb and about the trauma and guilt-feel he undergoes.

The end of the play suggests the possibility of sparkling of lights from the stars in the dark sky, a ray of hope when Kim pardons John and they join together to dedicate their life in bringing some illumination in the lives of the war victims, as symbolized by the lit candles, shared by the actors on stage and the audience.

The cultural characteristics of Vietnam and nature of the backdrop of the story were depicted in a suggestive level, as the priority of the production seemed not on the authenticity or the specificity of the culture, backdrop or the environment; but on the historical facts that were well researched and authentic. At the same time the little fluidity in the depiction of the background, atmosphere, costumes, rituals, properties, music, etc helped to transport the premise into a universally valid experience, beyond time and place of the incident.

The play used the projection of the photograph of Kim which served as the key motif behind, scenes depicting napalm bombing, and a depiction of the famous reply speech of Kim on her selection as the goodwill ambassador of UNESCO. The production is an amalgamation of the facts with fiction and these projections provided the needed link. In the last scene Kim breaks open the screen and comes to John Plummer saying “I am a victim of war, I was a victim of many things, but Life is beautiful”.

The production was trying to be simple, direct, and matter of fact, devoid of any pretentious stuff and this transparency helped the communication of the basic idea quite successfully.

The children who acts in the play are Nikitha, Krishna, Pooja, Vijaykrishnan,Sarath, Clint, Amar,Krishnanunni, Govind,Ashwin,Aparna,Sree Parvathy, Ramakrishnan,Lakshmi,Dhruvakumar, Meenakshi,Sreenandini,Aravind,Sabareesh, and Ammu.

The credit goes to Jolly Antony & Manoosh (Set) Jolly & Unni (Sound), -Aarsha & Aadarsh (Music), Vibhu, Gayathri, Vijaykrishnan (Singers) Santhosh & Ayyappa Thejas (Orchestration), Namitha & Francis (Costumes), -Zeena,& Usha (Art & Properties ) Charu & Pradeep (Make Up-) Rema.K.Nair (Associate Direction-) Chandradasan (Lighting and Creative supervision).The play is scripted and directed by Shirly Somasundaram and produced and performed by Mazhavillu,Kochi

An Elegy for the Displaced

 

Express News Service

First Published : 15 Sep 2009 12:04:00 AM IST

Last Updated : 15 Sep 2009 09:40:18 AM IST

KOCHI: Soorpanakha is the rereading of the story of Soorpanakha based on ‘Thaykulam’, a short story written by Sara Joseph.

The theatrical interpretation presents the main character as a representative of femininity who is mutilated in response to her plea for love. The play tries to find the meta-mindset of Soorpanakha within all feminine premises. It tells the story of pain and loss that blocks all organic routes of humankind.

The story finds a modern day interpretation in the tales from Sri Lanka, Muthanga, Moolampilly and Chengara.

The play employs stage and screen technology to present past and future events on stage making use of primeval characters from myth and placing them against the backdrop of modern reality.

The play also explores the scope of Kurathi, one among the strongest poetic interpretations of femininity, by the late Kadammanitta Ramakrishnan.

The new twist in the dramatic plot adds to the enigmatic style of visualisation and the play becomes a theatrical expression of social interaction.

In the play Soorpanakha becomes a martyr and the victim of a strange legal morality that leaves the earth and woman wounded forever.

She comes back from the world of long forgotten primordial forms to repeat the Ramayana. And to represent the mutilated nature and ousted tribes the undeniable social metaphors of Muthanga, Moolampilly and Chengara are used.

'Soorpanakha' is conceived and directed by Ullas Mavilayi, a post graduate in Malayalam literature and a graduate from School of Drama, Thrissur. Actively involved in amateur theatre activities in Kerala, he has worked on many plays performed all over Kerala and Delhi. Director of many plays including 'Soothakodeeram', 'Othello', 'Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre' and 'Innalthe Mazha', he has acted and assisted in directing in the Tamil film In the Name of Buddha.

Pradeep Chittor, the actor who plays the role of Soorpanakha has been active in amateur theatre for the last eleven years.

He has performed for popular theatre attempts like 'Karnabharam', 'Poranadi', 'Media', 'Innalathe Mazha', 'Pattabakki' and 'Chayamukhi'. He was the winner of the central government scholarship for theatre performance in the year 2005 and an active member of Lokadharmi, theatre group of Prof Chandradasan.

'Soorpanakha' will be staged on September 17 at Edappally Changampuzha Park at 6 30 pm.

Courtesy New Indian Express Kochi, 15 September 2009

Cries of Primordial forms return….Soorppanakha a solo by Pradeep Chittoor

 

The premiere show of Soorppanakha a solo play enacted by Pradeep Chittoor, scripted and directed by Ullas Mavilayi will take place at 6.30 pm at Changampuzha Park Edappally on 17th September 2009. This play is developed from the short story Thaikulam written by Sara Joseph.

In the story Thaikulam Sara Joseph tries to find the meta-mindset of Soorppanakha within all feminine premises by her extra sense. It tells the story of pain on loosing the organic roots mankind. In the new theatrical improvisation, new stories of de-rooting from Chengara, and Muthanga is narrated in the same passion as rootless men. in a way it is a kind of reinterpretation of some primeval characters from myth and reality linked together.  Stage and screen technology is used to depict the past and the present. The play explores the backdrop of Kurathi, by late Kadamminitta Ramakrishnan one among the strong poetic interpretation of femininity.

Sara Joseph will participate in the inaugural function and she will speak on ‘the contemporary  re-reading of Epics’

Pradeep Chittoor is actively working in Lokadharmi for the last 11 years as an actor, set designer and make-up artist. He has acted in the plays Karnnabharam, Poranadi, Medea,  Paattabakki (all directed by Chandradasan), Innalathe Mazha (dir.Ullas Mavilayi) and Chayamukhi (dir; Prasanth Narayanan). He won the National scholarship for advanced training in acting from the department of culture, Government of India in 1995.

Ullas Mavilayi who scripted and directs this play hails from Kannoor district and is a theatre graduate from School of Drama, Trichur. he has worked with eminent directors like Abhilash Pillai, Radha Karman etc and visited Japan. his directorial ventures include Soothakodeeram, Othello, Dharmakshethre Kurukshethre, Innalathe Mazha etc. He has also acted and assisted in direction of the Tamil film ‘In the name of Buddha’.

The music of the play is by Ajan, art by Premkumar Kottakkal, Set & property by Bhanuvajanan, Light by Harikrishnan S, Costumes by Seema Santhosh, sound control by Prasanth Madhav, and production by Charu Narayanan. The play is presented by Lokadharmi with the assistance from Changampuzha Samskarika Kendram.

Directors Note A new twist in the South Indian dramatic plot adds an enigmatic layer of visualization to make the theatrical expression a social interaction. Perhaps it can look strange when viewed through the dark glasses of the protagonist of this play, Soorppanakha, who is the martyr of a strange legal morality that made the soil and women wounded for ever. She comes back to the senses of men from ancient fairy tales. the nature stands on one side as it lost its motherhood, and on the other side the silent elegy of men who are displaced from their soil begin. Over the terrific defeat of ideologies, only some names are left, Muthanga, Chengara, Moolampilly, as the undeniable social metaphors. Those cries return to the world of long forgotten primordial forms. And the ‘Ramayana’ repeats again… 

Paattabakki at Soorya Festival 2009

This years Soorya Theatre Festival is scheduled from October 11^th to 20^th with the performance of 11 plays by 9 directors. The festival takes place at SST College of Music Thiruvanathapuram at 6.45 pm. One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the three plays directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy. Paattabakki written by K.Damodaran and directed by me for Lokadharmi is included in this festival.

The festival showcases plays of directors like Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Raju Narippatta, Jayaprakash Kuloor, M.Vinod, Manjulan, Vinodkumar, and Pramod Payyannur.

There is an emphasis on realistic productions and direct communication in this year’s festival.

Melvilasam (Address) – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram (11^th October)

Adapted from a Hindi Short Story "Court Martial' by Swadesh Deepak and inspired from the experiences of Gopi Poojapura, an ex-soldier of Indian Army, the play highlights the caste differences in the Society. The trauma experienced by a jawan from a backward community, who is ill treated by his superiors is brought out through an emotional presentation and effective dialogues. The play goes into the reasons that compelled the soldier to commit the murder of his officer and seeks to depict the relentless fight between the privileged and the downtrodden. The play is noticed for its simplicity of narration which depends on the histrionics of the actors who lived as characters devoid of any technical extravaganza. This can be called as one naturalistic production ever happened in Malayalam theatre.

Prema Lekhanam (Love Letter) – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram (12^th October)

‘Premalekhanam’ is an adaptation of the famous story by Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, that revolves around the romance of Kesavan Nair, a bank employee from a conservative Nair family, and Saramma, a member of an orthodox Christian family.

The significant feature of the play was its simplicity. Simplicity was the dominant aspect of the theme, the dialogues, the acting, the costumes, the properties, the lighting and the total design.

Although Basheer wrote ‘Premalekhanam’ 65 years ago, the play reminds us that the ‘progress’ in our society is still superficial and that we have a long way to go before we can claim to be secular.

Pulari (Dawn) – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram (13^th October)

`Pulari' is the story "of those who are waiting for their own reasons and also those who do not know what to wait for".

The story is set in pre-independence India. It happens in a village in North Kerala called Chamundipuram. The characters in the story strongly believe that their dreams will materialize one day.

A station master who dreams of a day when an express train would stop at his railway station, a tea-shop owner who dreams of a credit-free day, a post master whose wish is a letter addressed to him, a young lady who hopes that her already married lover would come back to her, a tailor who is desperate to stitch a silk cloth, an old man who waits for the remains of his dead son, and a young girl - Ammu - who waits for her father to return, although she knows that he is dead!

The life and times of people who lived 60 years ago were effectively illustrated on stage. A tea shack, a tailoring shop and a post office filled the stage.... the attention to detail enhanced the feel of the play and the period and the place in which it is set.

Madhyama Vyayogam – Kavalam Narayana Panikkar - Sopanam, Thiruvananthapuram (14^th October)

'Madhyama Vyayogam' marks Sopanam's maiden encounter with Sanskrit Theatre in 1978. A major breakthrough in Kavalam's career as a director came when he was offered a chance to produce and present a Sanskrit drama at the prestigious Kalidas Samaroh in Ujjain. And on November 2, 1978, 'Madhyama Vyayogam' was presented in Ujjain and was received with a standing ovation. The audience could feel the strength of the Sanskrit presentation, the usage of body dynamics by the actors and their ability to combine the "Satvika" and "Vachika" acting.

Mahakavi Bhasa's 'Madhyama Vyayogam' is based on an incident in the Mahabharatha. The Central point of the dramatic development of the play is Madhyama (the middle one) applied to both, Bhima, the Madhyama Pandava, and the Madhyama, the second of the three sons of a Brahmin. A theme which brings home to us the warmth of family relationship, the stimulation of human sentiments - the old values being recaptured in a highly dramatic situation.

Bastukara- - Raju Narippatta- Nava Kerala Kalasamithi Karalmanna (15^th October)

Bastukara is the new play by Narippatta Raju, and is dedicated to the memory of Baburaj and is an adaptation of the short story by Shihabuddin Poithumkadavu. ‘Basthukara’ is the rags-to-riches story of Avukkar Haji whose obsession for music coupled with a sense of munificence finally impoverishes him and his flourishing business.

The narration of the play includes symbols, flash-back, alienation, fantasy et al. Captivating strains of Baburaj’s songs, for which Haji has a fascination, enhances the appeal of the show.

Ithu Oru Kurangante Kadhayalla (This is not the Story of a Monkey) & Manakkanakku – Jayaprakash Kuloor - (16^th October)

This years Soorya Festival has Two plays by Jayaprakash Kuloor whose presence was regular from the first Soorya festival. The difference this time is that instead of mini plays that were sort of curtain raisers in the earlier festivals Kuloor comes with two plays Ithu Oru Kurangante Kadhayalla and Manakkanakku, both penned and directed by him. One can expect the path of improvisation and a approach that is breaking the barriers of conventionalism, the trade mark of Kuloor theatre.

Kanyadanam – M Vinod– Thrissur Natakasauhradam (17^th October)

The play ‘Kanyadanam’ is written by Thikkodiyan and is based on the Christian life of Malabar proclaims the value of perseverance. This play is directed by M Vinod for Thrissur Nataka Sauhridam, an important theatre group that has completed 10 years of continuous functioning.

Paattabaakki (Balance Lease) – Chandradasan – Lokadharmi, Kochi (18^th October)

The Malayalam play, `Paattabakki,' was written by the late K. Damodaran, well-known Communist theoretician. Considered the first political drama of Kerala, it was said to be written in one single night, to be performed at a conference of the Karshaka Sangham, the farmers' guild of the Communist Party of India in Malabar.

The story revolves around the obnoxious custom of `Paattabakki,' the weapon wielded by land-owners to extort farmers who took land and paddy fields on lease.

But, the play continues to be relevant as long as an oppressive social system continues to exist.

Though didactic in nature, `Paattabakki' never raises any slogans; the message is subtle and the play ends only with a hint towards the solution, without stating it explicitly.

Koonan ( Hunchback) – Jayaprakash Kuloor/Manjulan-Perumthattakam Kannur & Kannadi (Mirror) – Vinodkumar –Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady - (19^th October)

On 19^th October two plays penned by Jayaprakash Kuloor are scheduled.

The first one is a solo show `Koonan' (The Hunchback) and performed by Manjulan and is about a hunchback's unrequited love. The play starts with him fondling a bunch of flowers, which he had got for his love. Just before he dies, he gives away the bunch of flowers to a little girl, knowing for sure that this gesture would not change his ‘lover’s’ feelings for him.

The second play of the day is Kannadi (Mirror) directed by Vinodkumar and performed by the department of theatre Sree Sankaracharya University of Sankrit Kalady, again penned by Jayaprakash Kuloor. The play tells the story of a young couple that had not seen a mirror in their life. Kannadi is portrayed as something that could not only help people realize themselves but also destroy their lives

Mathilukal (Walls) – Pramod Payyannur – Swaralaya Palakkad (20^th October)

The Thruvanthapuram edition of Soorya Festival conclude with the play “Mathilukal”, based on short story by Vaikkam Muhammed Basheer directed by Pramod Payyannur and acted among others by K.P.A.C. Lalitha , M.R.Gopakumar, Ibrahim Vengara, Unni Sathar etc.

Pattabakki (The lease balance)

As early as in 1936 when the political arena in Kerala was becoming more and more tense with the peasant landlord antagonism and anti-British movement, the ideological intellectualism of the middle class was struggling to find strategies of containment in various fields of creative activity. The age-old concept of a coercive aesthetics of "divine bliss" and the appropriation of the cultural life and elemental human experience of the majority came to have little significance in the newly evolved performance praxis which clearly was being determined by the social contradictions of the times. Here, art and performance became a highly conscious and rational social activity for the new playwrights who were basically social reformers first and foremost. The shaping spirit of this newly emerged theatre practice with an aggressive aesthetic and performance orientation gave birth to another genre totally new to Malayalam theatre which found its expression in K. Damodaran's Pattabakki (1936). Considered as the first political play in Malayalam, Pattabakki rooted itself in the anti-feudal consciousness of the people, which was getting manifested in the struggles of the peasants against feudal landlordism supported by the British regime. A new structure of human experience, determined, by the socio-political reality undertook the task of vehemently challenging the hegemonic ideology of the times. This new performance pattern which was basically realistic reached every nook and corner of Kerala to establish a lasting effect upon the future developments in the radical theatre practice of Kerala.

Thus, it can be surmised that with K.Damodaran's Pattabakki Malayalam theatre practice came of age in 1937 and the subsequent developments in Kerala theatre very clearly indicates the class-contradictions embedded at the core of the fast changing social formations

Structure wise also the play is interesting. At one level it has a documentary nature that episodically builds up. The different scenes are charged with emotions but the story develops between each scenes. The play has 14 scenes that take place in verandah of a small and decaying hut, a small teashop in the town, the house of the landlord, a street, a small shop, and police station, the office room of the barn of the landlord, under a tree in a street, a prostitution house, and a jail. The locales of scenes suggest the locales where political and social power is operated. The play is written in the realistic style but it is not the naturalism but a suggestive realism is suited for this work. The earlier productions of this play has been on the realistic melodramatic overtones and was over projecting the emotional content of the radical political stands of the play making it a simplistic sloganistic piece. It is noteworthy that the play did not give a direct answer to the problems it raises but ends in open. When asked what to be done o face such grave exploitation the central character just say that ‘I will tell you”

A Brechtian approach in a didactic and open structure will make the play a new experience. The episodical narrative is addressing the audience directly and mostly talks to them enhancing the dialectical nature of this play. The play is  presented in an open space where each of the scenes are arranged in different spaces with suggestive realistic set pieces and props and the audience is made to shift attention from space to space.

The period of this production is set during the 1960s even if the issues raised in this play transcend spaces and time. It is valid as long as the social structure is existing that oppresses the working class people.

Thematically the play speaks about agriculture, the farmer the land owner and the relationships between them and the exploitation. At present even agriculture as a social activity is almost extinct from Kerala life and it will be interesting to enquire the passion with which our farmers worked on the field even under sheer exploitation. It is the sheer social situation that makes the protagonist to thieve and the female lead to opt for prostitution. Theft and prostitution are approached by the playwright not as sin but as the result of social pressure in the oppressed. The presentation of the play in this era will be interesting in this approach to prostitution and thieves and the fake morality that prevails today.

The cast of the play is Sukanya Shaji, Vijayakumar, Govind Nambiar, TS Asha Devi, Ajaikumar Thiruvankulam, N.Somasundaran, Sudheer Babu, Shirly Somasundaran, Madan Kolavil, Johny Thottunkal, Kalamandalam Prabhakaran, VR Selvaraj, Santhosh Piravam, Damodaran Nambothiri, Prasanth madhav, Kannatte Kalesh Sanosh Palluruthi, Amar Mohan, & Meghanadhan

The technical crew comprises of Jolly Antony (Set), Bijibal (Music); Shirly Somasundaran, (Costume Design): Anoop Kalarikkal, (Art &Properties), Gireesh Menon (Lighting) and Madan Kolavil (Production in Charge).

Pattabakki will be performed on the 11^th October at JT Pac Thripunithura and on 18^th at SST College of Music at Thiruvananthapuram, the 6^th and 7^th performances of this play.

We dedicate these shows to the memory of Late Kalamandalam Kesavan who was acting the role of the landlord in the previous shows of Paattabakki.

Edition of Soorya Festival at JT Pac Thripunithura

This year the Soorya Theatre Festival has an aedition at JT Pac Thripunithura, Ernakulam (Choice School Compound) also. All the plays performed at Thiruvanathapuram are performed here also. The Schedule is given below.

11^th October Paattabakki (Balance Lease) – Chandradasan – Lokadharmi, Kochi

12^th October Ithu Oru Kurangante Kadhayalla & Manakkanakku – Jayaprakash Kuloor

13^th October Madhyama Vyayogam – Kavalam Narayana Panikkar - Sopanam, Thiruvananthapuram

14^th October Bastukara- - Raju Narippatta- Nava Kerala Kalasamithi Karalmanna

15^th October Pulari – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram

16^th October Prema Lekhanam – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram

17^th October Melvilasam – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram

18^th October Kanyadanam – M Vinod– Thrissur Natakasauhradam

19^th October Mathilukal (Walls) – Pramod Payyannur – Swaralaya Palakkad

20^th October 1.Koonan – Jayaprakash Kuloor/Manjulan-Perumthattakam Kannur & 2.Kannadi – Vinodkumar –Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady