Karnnabharam @Kundapura, Karnataka.

Lokadharmi presents the play Karnnabharam at Kundapura, Karnataka in the National Theatre festival to be held at Dr.Shantharam Open Air Theatre, Kundapura Udupi Dist. Karnataka.
                        This Festival is organized by the South Zone Cultural Centre, Thanjavur in collaboration with Aneka Theatre Group, Bangalore and Ranga Adhyayana Kendra, Kundapur. Over 12 best productions selected from all over India will be showcased in the festival scheduled between February 28^th to March 9^th 2014 every evening at 7.00 p.m . The festival opens with Karnnabharam at 7.00 pm on 28th of Feb.

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, 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 Jodhpur Rajasthan, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh, Kolkota (Bengal), Mysore, Bengaluru and 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 323r^d show of the play.

The artists travelling to Kundapura to perform the play are Sudheer Babu, VR Selvaraj, Madan Kolavil, Jolly Antony, Shaiju T Hamsa, Sumesh Chittooran, Ajaikumar Thiruvankulam, Sanosh Palluruthy, Jebin Jesmes, Gireesh Menon, Bhanuvajanan, Kishore NK, Poornnathrayee Jayaprakash, Sreedeep KS, Ferha Azeez, Pradeep Sreenivasan, Sreekala and Chandradasan.

Viswavikhyathamaya Mookku @ Alberts...

As part of a National seminar organised by the language department of St. Albert's College, Lokadharmi performed the play Viswavikhyathamaya Mookku (the world Renoned nose) at St.Alberts College Auditorium on 30th of January. TM Abraham, Dr. KG Paulose, Margi Madhu,  Chandradasan, Meenambalam Santhosh, CR Rajagopal, Shirly Somasundaran and Usha Ganguli presented papers on different aspects of contemporary performance in the seminar.

Viswavikyathamaya Mookku

A foolish, illiterate young man, works as a cook in a hotel. His only ambition is to make sure he has enough snuff to inhale. Something very strange happens to him on his 24th birthday. His nose starts to grow! Day by day, it continues to grow in length until finally it reaches his navel. People from everywhere arrive to gaze upon the extra-ordinary nose! The crowds become a nuisance for the house owner, and he is forced to fire the cook from the job. The cook sits in his hut for days without money food or to buy a pinch of snuff. The crowds keep queuing near his hut, but no one helps the pathetic young man. Finally, he gets furious and asks his mother to shut the door; so the crowd bribes his mother... Money started flowing to the mother and son. Soon they became very rich.

As the long nosed man becomes famous, politicians hatch conspiracies to capture him. The ruling party wins his loyalty by giving him a title and a gold medal. The president supports and honors him. Soon, the opposition party begins agitating; violence and riots follow; they say the nose is actually a pseudo nose made of rubber! The man was arrested by the police, and his nose examined by expert doctors. The nose is proven real and this causes him to be nominated as a Member of Parliament by the president! But the opposition parties counter this by forming a United Front, and continue their struggle. Basheer’s point is that the incessant controversy generated by the nose is selfishly used by competing parties for self-driven interests. Ultimately, the general populace is shown as more foolish than the poor, former cook ever was.

The play uses masks and gibberish, supplemented with hilarious, grotesque and fast movements in the performance language. This production is without scenery, costumes, music and facial expression (as actors will all be masked); the production is challenging for the actors as a test of their ability to communicate and sustain the interest of the spectators without such tools. Devoid of scenery, costumes, music, facial expression and the use of language, this production is challenging the actor to create, communicate and sustain the interest of the audience- an experiment in itself.

The play is written by Chandradasan, based on the story by Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, and directed by Chandradasan and Terry Converse. (USA)

The artists performing  are Selvaraj, Jolly Antony, Johny Thottunkal, Anish Paul, Sujith Kollam, Shaiju T Hamza, Adithye KN, Tony Chacko Stanly, Bhanuvajanen, Sanoj Somarajan,Sreenandini J Prasad, Unnimaya Edanilath, Pradeep Sreenivasan, Shanif Marakkar, Madan Kolavil, and Sreedeep