World Theatre Day 2012.

Message of the 50th anniversary of World Theatre Day from John Malkovich

"I'm honoured to have been asked by the International Theatre Institute ITI at UNESCO to give this greeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of World Theatre Day. I will address my brief remarks to my fellow theatre workers, peers and comrades.

May your work be compelling and original. May it be profound, touching, contemplative, and unique. May it help us to reflect on the question of what it means to be human, and may that reflection be blessed with heart, sincerity, candour, and grace. May you overcome adversity, censorship, poverty and nihilism, as many of you will most certainly be obliged to do. May you be blessed with the talent and rigor to teach us about the beating of the human heart in all its complexity, and the humility and curiosity to make it your life's work. And may the best of you - for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments - succeed in framing that most basic of questions, "how do we live?" Godspeed."
World Theatre day @ Lokadharmi; Release of the book ‘Bommanahalliyile Kinnarayogi’

As John Malkovich suggests let the theatre become more human, and let us reaffirm our conviction in human energy, passion and the organic process of converting human energy to an aesthetic experience that is unique in theatre. Only theatre can be as human as it is, and let us not make it more technical, mechanical and dogmatic and devoid of jargons.....

We in Lokadharmi Celebrate this year’s World theatre day with messages from TM Abraham, playwright and director and vice-chairman of Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi. The play written by Chandradasan named ‘Bommanahalliyile Kinnarayogi’ will be released by M.Thomas Mathew on the occasion. KG Paulose will introduce the play. Noted critic MV Benny, Music director Bijibal, Cultural enthusiast and organiser K Balachandran, playwright, actress and director Shirly Somasundaran will be participating along with the artists of Lokadharmi and Mazhavillu. The book is published by Kerala State Institute of Childrens Literature, edited by G Mohanakumari, Photographs by Jipson Zikhera, paintings and illustrations by Shobha menon and design and layout by Alice Cheevel.

This play has been performed by Mazhavillu throughout Kerala on important festivals that include the International Theatre Festival of Kerala 2011, International Seminar on Children’s theatre at Bharath matha college Thrikkakkara, National book exhibition of KSICL Thiruvanathapuram, Soorya Festival 2011, Swaralaya fest Palakkadu etc.

Death of a Salesman

The screening of the film version of ‘The death of a Salesman’ by Arthur Miller with excellent performances from Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich and Keith Reid in the cast and directed by Volker Scholandroff will take place on the occasion.

John Malkovich

John Malkovich is a founding member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has worked on 33 productions with the company since 1976. In 1983 he won an Obie for his performance in Sam Shepard’s True West. The following year, he appeared with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, which earned him an Emmy in 1985 when it was made into a television film. He rose to fame in cinema with his interpretation of Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons by Stephen Frears, alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Glenn Close. After this role he acted in more than 70 movies internationally, receiving Academy Award nominations for Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire and playing a version of himself in the films Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. He has periodically returned to Chicago to act and direct, and was recently seen in the international tour of The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer. This production traveled to nearly 20 countries and received its New York premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in November 2011. He also directed his third theatre production in Paris, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, at the Théâtre de l'Atelier following the success of Hysteria (2002) and The Good Canary (2007) for which he was awarded the Molière Award for best staging.

Whose Effigy did we burn that Friday, anyway?

Aleykutty Joseph

This morning, as usual, I opened my Bible at random to listen to the sweet whisper of my Abba, my Father God. This is a habit I’ve acquired from my earthly father, who used to believe with a faithful certainty that the Word of God that he received at the profound hours of daybreak would surely have a personal message for him. I too have learned this technique of listening to God thus at the wee hours of dawn. But it took me quite some years to acquire this precious skill – the years it took had the distance from Virginia Woolf to Ruskin Bond – from the dark dungeons of those notions about patriarchal tyranny to the soothing aurora of paternal affection! Yeah, that’s the same distance I had to trudge from Freud and Jung to Viktor Frankl and Stephen Covey. So today, as I opened my Bible, the Word that captured my eyes was a part of a prayer from the Book of Wisdom :

           On You they called when they were thirsty

           And from the rocky cliff, water was given to them,

           From hard stone a remedy for their thirst

           Thus what had served to punish their enemies

           Became a benefit for them in their difficulties,

           Whereas their enemies had only the ever-flowing source

           Of a river fouled with mingled blood and mud,

           To punish them for their decree of infanticide

           You gave your people , against all hope, water in abundance.

                    (Wisdom 11: 4-7, The New Jerusalem Bible)

My Father’s profound whisper swept over me like a gentle breeze. I highlighted the lines in fluorescent green. I could sense that this Word was in fact decoding for me the mysterious joy ( of course mingled with tears) I experienced as I stood watching an effigy burning last Friday.    

We were just coming out of the auditorium (Bharatha Mata College, Kochi) that Friday night,after watching a bewitching  drama ‘ Bommanahalliyile Kinnara yogi’ ( a drama adaptation in Malayalam of Kovembu’s re-reading of Pied Piper by ‘Mazhavillu’ children’s theatre.It was part of the cultural evening  of the international seminar on 'Re-Reading Classics in Children's Literature', organized by the Dept. of English of Bharata Mata college. ) It was with a great sense of wonder that I watched that beautiful poem on stage, enacted by a troupe of brilliant children. The play began with the chorus, dressed in rural Indian costumes, wailing the aridity of the land and of the various oppressions they suffered under their apathetic ruler the “gowda”. But most of all, they bewailed with an intuitive apprehension arising from their herd instinct, the irksome pestilence of a herd of rats. The aggravating little rodents appeared “shrieking and squeaking” in their black, brown and grey costumes, with conspicuously prominent ears and their extra-large rat faces, which they literally carried in their hands, as though those were some infernal instruments with which they gnawed away the very elements of life.

Into this dark chaos – interposed throughout with every possible humour only children can provide – comes the strange figure of the yogi. He makes his arrival with drummers and singers , giving it the colour of a local temple festival. The painted face of the yogi radiated the needed charm ( the fiery expression on the face of the child artist reminded me of the Malayalam actress Manju Varrier).

    Finally , when we thought the drama had ended, the boy who took the role of gowda announced that the drama does not end there. He proclaimed that the responsibility of bringing back the children, whom the yogi had charmed away into some distant lands, lay not only with them, but also with us the audience (decode it as 'adults', if you feel like it) . So with the burden of the responsibility of bringing back the children gnawing at our inner beings, we slowly made our exit. And as we silently stepped on to the front yard of the auditorium, we found them, the children ( Oh, the joy of discovery!). All the actors, with  gentle dancing steps, were circling round an effigy, and they were chanting the mesmerizing song of the yogi. Eventually (may I dare to say, “at the fullness of time”), the girl who enacted the yogi’s role came forward from amidst the chanting choir and asked permission from everyone to burn down the effigy. With everyone’s consent the child lit the effigy with a flaming torch and burned it down. Then they all danced away with shouts of joy , turning the whole event into a campfire.

And that was the moment I sensed tears rolling down my cheeks. I realized with a shock that I wasn’t just witnessing a death. In fact I was experiencing the death of many a gnawing vermin within my own being. They fell crackling into ashes. I could almost name some of those creatures that fell dying in my heart – prejudices, irrational fears, pride and its accompanying vices.

  And I stood there wondering : “ Whose effigy were we burning , anyway?"
My Father’s profound whisper sweeps over me like a gentle breeze.

"Dreams come true, to those who are faithful", so I mused as I walked out of the gates of Bharathmatha college, Kochi on Friday night.I had just watched the play, "Bommanahallyile Kinnarayogi" a Malayalam adaptation of Kovembu's Kannada play based on Browning's Pied Piper.

courtesy http://eluraj.blogspot.com; photos by Chandradasan from the performance of the play at Swaralaya theatre festival Palakkadu Kerala.

Bommanahalliyile Kinnara yogi at Swaralaya Festival Palakkadu.

The play BOMMANAHALLIYILE KINNARA YOGI performed by Mazhavilu/Lokadharmi is invited to perform in the Swaralaya festival Palakkadu. The show is on the eve of 25th of November.

This play is enacted by Children of Mazhavillu- the children’s theatre group of Lokadharmi Kochi, written designed and directed by Chandradasan, based on the beautiful and imaginative adaptation of Browning’s Pied Piper, by the Kannada poet Kuvempu. 32 children perform in this musical spectacle with their energetic movements enjoying every moment on stage, singing, dancing, enacting with lot of fun, wit, satire, humour, histrionics and mischief.

The narrative of the play is straight, simple, and transparent that is relating to the hilarity and humor of the narration. The performance language is designed so as to give the space for creativity and the histrionic talent of the children, the whole process of rehearsal was exhilarating to the little actors; a scheme of rehearsal and play making that was more process oriented than the product, still resulting in a performance that was highly rewarding to all who participated, that includes the audience.

The story of the pied piper is narrated direct and simple in this transparent and candid presentation; it is attempted to create a cosmos of the exuberance, earthiness, and hurdles of the rural life where various ecosystems co-exist. The people, Gowda and his men, artist/singers, Bhattas, cat, dog, rats, river and hills coexist to form a complete and balanced universe, mutually complimenting and completing.

The play is basically designed for a proscenium, but extends beyond even to the outside of the theatre in the finale scene. The actors assemble around the installation of a Yogi effigy pronouncing that the story of Yogi happened many years before. As a tribute the Yogi story is performed every year and to end the performance they set fire to the Yogi effigy, as reminiscent in Ramleela and many other ritual performances.

The performance structure design and form is derived from many narrative forms from various living traditions. The first part is more hilarious, humorous, and slapstick; the entry of Yogi shifts into a musical narrative where the actors, sing, dance and perform the characters. Use of imaginative sets, properties and music suggest the space, characters, time, as well as the cultural/ political implications of the play.

The cast include Jeyabhami-Gowri Murali-Inkitha Inesh-Gouri Krishna, Varada, Sreenandini, K. N Meenakshi, K.Devasree Mohan, Unnimaya, Aishwariya.M., Amal, Unnimadhav, Jeya Sooriya M.A, Jayasuriya J, Arun A , Aravid Ajay, Sabareesh M.A, Ramakrishnan, Rithul, Rohin K , Diljaz, Nikhil Vishwam, , K.N. Dhruvakumar,  Alex.J.Puimood, Aravind.R, Kiran Xavier, Amar Mohan, Govind Nambiar, Vijayakrishnan, Ganesh, Mahadevan, and Malavika Murali

The Credits are; Manosh (Art & Properties), Jolly Antony (Set), Kishore.M (Live Percussion), Reju Gregory & Adrian R Gregory( Harmonium, Key Board, & Guitar), -Aarsha Chandanavattam , & Apoorva (Vocal Support), Shirly Somasundaram (Costumes), Rema.K Nair, (Make Up & Costume), Sarath R Nadh (Direction Assistance), Gireesh Menon (Music & Lighting) and Charu Narayanan (Stage In Charge). The Play Is Produced By Mazhavillu, the Children’s Theatre Of Lokadharmi, Scripted, Designed and Directed by Chandradasan

This is the 4th show of this production.

Soorya Festival in Asian Age.

 

Bommahalliyile Kinnara Yogi at Soorya Festival 2010

As usual, this year’s Soorya Theatre Festival is scheduled from October 11^th to 20^th with the performance of 14 plays by 13 directors. The festival takes place at Model School auditorium, Thiruvananthapuram at 6.45 pm. One of the highlights of this year’s festival is Avanavan Kadamba, the milestone production in the history of Malayalam theatre. Three plays that have won awards in the recently finished Amateur theatre festival of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi is included along with two plays directed by Soorya Krishnamurthy. A play in Tamil by YG Mahendran is another attraction. Bommanahalliyile Kinnara yogi written and directed by me for Mazhavillu, the children’s theatre of Lokadharmi is also included in this festival.

The festival showcases plays of directors like Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, Gopan Chidambaram, Sasidharan Naduvil, M.Vinod, K. Vinodkumar, PAM Rashed and Pramod Payyannur.

Parinayam (Marriage) – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram (11^th October)

‘Parinayam,' scripted by M.T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy, relives the injustice of ‘smarthavicharam.'- a journey back in time; into the most infamous of the ‘smarthavicharams' – that of Kuriyedathu Thathri, that took place way back in July, 1905.

The play has references to ‘Adukkalayilninnum Arangathekku,' the path-breaking play written by V.T. Bhattathirippad and Lalithambika Antharjanam's work ‘Agnisakshi, used to transport us back to those unfortunate times when the social order was certainly skewed in terms of gender justice.

The woman who is under trial never appears on stage, and is known only by a voice, which speaks but little; reminiscent of the role forced on the Namboothiri women of the past. Yet, she does not leave the scene of the community court-martial as a desolate woman, but as one who promises to return with a vengeance, through Ammu, a woman born from her womb- the omnipresent contemporary element in all the works of Soorya Krishnamurthy.

Marmmaram (Murmur) – Soorya Krishnamoorthy- Soorya, Thiruvananthapuram (12^th October)

Marmmaram is written and directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy is a nostalgic revisit on the lost human values and is set in a village atmosphere; the play has characters like a teashop owner, postman, a man running a local cinema, a nun, helpless old people left in an old age-home, etc. The play also addresses the issues of communal co-existence.

1.Baburaj, Paduka...pattukara...(Baburaj, singer...keep on singing) – Sasidharan Naduvil – Actlab , Thrissoor;

2.The Journey – Chilanka Floating Theatre(13^th October)

On 13^th two plays are double-billed, one a solo act from actlab thrissoor and the other a childrens play from Floating theatre Kozhikodu.

‘Baburaj – Paduka Pattukara,' a one-man, one-act show by N. K. Sajeev, presented by Thrissur Act Lab written by VR Sudheesh, and directed by Sasidharan Naduvil, traces the life, struggles, pains and career of musician M. S. Baburaj. The play is a direct narrative where the actor switches roles from narrator to character, and the play uses many of the nostalgic songs created by the legendary musician.

1.Yakshikadhayum Nattuvarthamanavum– (The fable of Yakshi and the local gossip)- K Vinodkumar – Suvarnna Theatres, Valayanchirangara

2. Salam America – Gopan Chidambaram – Traya Ernakulam (14^th October)

Yakshikadhayum Nattuvarthamanavum that won awards for the best drama, best playwright and best actress in the recently concluded State Amatuer Drama Festival of Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi, is presented by Suvarna Theatres, Valayanchirangara, Ernakulam, is scripted and directed by K. Vinod Kumar. The play looks into the male infringement and invasions into the environs and life of a female who is destined to live alone. She has to transform and enact as a Yakshi who kills the male, or one possessing with infectious diseases to keep her protected, till her man returns. The play uses a musical narrative structure with good set, music, acting and colourful design.

Salam America is a solo act, is based on the short story by Paul Zacharia in the same name, adapted and directed by Gopan Chidambaram, and is enacted by Vijayakumar. In the typical tone and style of Zacharia blended with wit, humour, and sachasam, an American returned Malayali is remembering his life and times in America- an attempt to relive the American experience from Kaduthuruthy, a small village in Central Travancore.

1. Thazhvarayile Pattu (Valley Song) – PAM Rasheed – Theatre of Good Hope, Thiruvananthapuram

2. Oru Thengal (A sob) – Devan Nellimoodu

3. Etho Chirakadiyochakal (Sounds of Fluttering Wings) –Sam George (15^th October)

Thazhvarayile Pattu is a Malayalam version of Athol Fugard’s one-act play about love and generational differences between an old man and his granddaughter. The play contains two stories woven into one. In the first, a young, black South African girl decides to leave her elderly grandfather behind on their farm in the Sneeuberg Valley so she can escape to the city and pursue her dreams of becoming a famous singer. The other story concerns an aging white South African playwright who is prepared to leave behind the “artificial” world of the theatre and urban life and move himself back to his origins in the farmland of the Karoo.

Oru Thengal is a short play is scripted by Soorya Krishnamoorthy and directed by Devan Nellimoodu.

Etho Chirakadiyochakal is written by Late G.Sankara Pillai with Kunthi as the central character; the story being narrated with a female perspective, where the episode with Karnna is introspected with compassion and reflecting the hidden pains of a helpless mother and her conflicts unravelled.

Bommanahalliyile Kinnara Yogi (Yogi with Kinnara at Bommanahalli– Chandradasan- Mazhavillu, Lokadharmi, Kochi - (16^thOctober)

This play is enacted by Children of Mazhavillu- the children’s theatre group of Lokadharmi Kochi, written designed and directed by Chandradasan, based on the beautiful and imaginative adaptation of Browning’s Pied Piper, by the Kannada poet Kuvempu. 32 children perform in this musical spectacle with their energetic movements enjoying every moment on stage, singing, dancing, enacting with lot of fun, wit, satire, humour, histrionics and mischief.

The narrative of the play is straight, simple, and transparent that is relating to the hilarity and humor of the narration. The performance language is designed so as to give the space for creativity and the histrionic talent of the children, the whole process of rehearsal was exhilarating to the little actors; a scheme of rehearsal and play making that was more process oriented than the product, still resulting in a performance that was highly rewarding to all who participated, that includes the audience.

Vietnam Veedu –(Vietnam House)- Tamil- YG Mahendran – (17^thOctober)

A stage play which was enacted by legendary actor Shivaji Ganesan has been revived by Y G Mahendran and the revival stays true to Sivaji Nataka Mandram’s original presentation. Y.Gee. Mahendran has retained the period of ‘Vietnam Veedu, and has retained the flavour of the original. Nowhere does he go overboard in his enthusiasm and anxiety.

Avanavan Kadamba (The self -Hurdle) – Kavalam– Sopanam, Thiruvananthapuram (18^th October)

'Avanavan Kadamba, ' is a play conceived by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, and directed by late G Aravindan, and was first enacted in 1976 with eternal relevance with contemporary echoes. He evolved a language, taking elements from the indigenous theatre of Kerala, both classical and folk. His use of songs, music and spectacle is exclusive to the aesthetics of Kerala. In theme, form, and audience participation, Avanavan Kadamba shows the distinctive stamp of Kavalam. In the process, the theme rises to the level of sheer poetry and reveals the folk wisdom that is unique to Indian philosophical thinking.

Avanavan Kadamba, a mile-stone production in the history of Malayalam theatre validates the contribution of regional theatre to the main stream Contemporary Indian theatre. Knitted in a loose narrative mode in real ethnic Malayalam with the rural flavour of the spoken word, the play communicates the magic realism of a forgotten horizon in its varied hues. The flexibility gives space to actors to interpret according to their sensibilities and perceptions.

This play enacted by veteran actors including Bharath Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, Jagannathan, Natarajan, etc, has been reproduced by younger actors of Sopanam with equal energy and appeal.

Makkalkoottam (The little class) – Pramod Payyannoor-Neeravil Prakash kalakendram, Kollam, (19^th October)

Makkalkoottam, directed by Pramod Payyannoor is based on a novel by TV Kochubava, and presented by Prakash Kalakendram, Neeravil, Kollam, won the second best actor awards for Rajesh Sharma and Sreeranjini. This play looks into the untouchable community of low caste Chakkilayan, who have been marginalised into the outskirts of the society; victims of social custom, ignorance, and manipulated exploitation by the upper caste/class. The play uses a narrative style mixing up of traditional narrative of Theyyam, and Tholpavakoothu, along with realism. Innovative space design with good technical execution is another hall mark of the play.

Nritham(Dance) – M Vinod & N Binod – NatakaSauhridam, Trissoor(20^th October)

This year’s edition of Soorya Theatre Festival conclude with the play Nritham, based on the novel by M Mukundan directed by M Vinod and N Binod, which portrays the saga of a traditional Kalari exponent after he had been lured by the European market for contemporary dance and its alluring on traditional physical forms such as Kalarippayattu. The journey and the plight of the Kalari performer as a choreographer and dancer in the European and American art market, the cultural colonisation, and the sad return of the protagonist is delineated in this play in a simple direct narrative.

Bommanahalliyile Kinnara Yogi

In this beautiful and imaginative adaptation of Browning’s Pied Piper, Kuvempu retains almost all of the original imagery and structure; still the transformation into the Kannada cultural milieu is complete and authentic; the outlook and characteristics of the people and the narrative mode are completely localized to Kannada culture, perspective and expression.

In Kuvempu poem is pungent with increased irony, pun, humor and have the weirdness of abstraction than the original. The structure of the performance text derived from this poem, naturally will be that of a poetic narrative, sung and enacted by a group of singer-actors. These singers might have traveled through ages and have witnessed/ inherited the poetry from ancestors. The singers join and attach themselves to the action as and when needed, and detach subsequently; they represent the people of the village. This continuous travel from character to singer-narrator and back will give an air of informality and provide a relaxed pursuit to the spectator.

The meaning and objective of this production is basically achieved through the rendering of the characters and their depiction. Each character is delineated and represented in specific exposé so that the narrative is developed into a form that relates to the contemporary reality and time.

Gowder is a usual, inefficient village-chief interested in nothing except collecting taxes, eating and sleeping. He has a big dog to scare people who complains; and is surrounded by a group of worthless intellectuals and advisers, unable to bring about solution to any problem. In a shift from the poem, the Gowda do not offer 6000 gold coins to Yogi, as reward to killing the rats. He offered this amount to any villager to keep his people silent from complaining, and was sure that none will come with any solution. One of the villager in turn told Jogi about this announcement. In fact the village does not have that much money in hand to spare, and Gowda was positioned in between an ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to Yogi.

The Kinnara Yogi character is particularly beguiling. Yogi is a performer and charmer who have immense ability to allure people. He boasts that he is the friend of lord Siva and Vishnu and has eradicated rats from Kailasa and Viakunta. And he insists that he shall get the money for his services. The space of the Yogi seems at the meeting point of the world meets with the legends, myths and fantasy; he has a link to mundane and with the imaginary. But he is alien to the rustic simplicity of the rural Bommanahalli and comes from a far away place with some odd objectives which the simpletons of the village cannot recognize. They are victims to the existing practice of the Gowda, the rat attack and later to the ploy of Yogi.

The rats are naughty and daring; they do all kinds of mischief, snatch the headgear of Gowda, and run a parallel government. They are represented with half masks, puppetry (glove, stick and hand) along with physicalisation and speak in a gibberish-rat language and/or also in Malayalam. In a metamorphosis the rats throw the headgears/masks/ and puppets to the river at the end of the play, and take the role of children.

The story of the pied piper is narrated direct and simple in this transparent and candid presentation; it is attempted to create a cosmos of the exuberance, earthiness, and hurdles of the rural life where various ecosystems co-exist. The people, Gowda and his men, artist/singers, Bhattas, cat, dog, rats, river and hills coexist to form a complete and balanced universe, mutually complimenting and completing.

Towards the end of the play the people understands the pain of the lone rat and decides not to kill it. The dog understands the reasoning of the people; the lament of the lame child who lost the heaven to be left in this unhappy world reverberates to the sensitivity of the people. It is the empathy with which men and animals understand and responds reciprocally that expresses the mutuality of existence subtly but clearly.

The play is basically designed for a proscenium, but extends beyond even to the outside of the theatre in the finale scene. The actors assemble around the installation of a Yogi effigy pronouncing that the story of Yogi happened many years before. As a tribute the Yogi story is performed every year and to end the performance they set fire to the Yogi effigy, as reminiscent in Ramleela and many other ritual performances.

The performance structure design and form is derived from many narrative forms from various living traditions. The first part is more hilarious, humorous, and slapstick; the entry of Yogi shifts into a musical narrative where the actors, sing, dance and perform the characters. Use of imaginative sets, properties and music suggest the space, characters, time, as well as the cultural/ political implications of the play.

The narrative of the play is straight, simple, and transparent that is relating to the hilarity and humor of the narration. The performance language is designed so as to give the space for creativity and the histrionic talent of the children, the whole process of rehearsal was exhilarating to the little actors; a scheme of rehearsal and play making that was more process oriented than the product.

The cast include Jeyabhami-Gowri Murali-Inkitha Inesh-Gouri Krishna, Varada, Sreenandini, K. N Meenakshi, K.Devasree Mohan, Unnimaya, Aishwariya.M., Amal, Unnimadhav, Jeya Sooriya M.A, Jayasuriya J, Arun A , Aravid Ajay, Sabareesh M.A, Ramakrishnan, Rithul, Rohin K , Diljaz, Nikhil Vishwam, , K.N. Dhruvakumar, Manutious, Alex.J.Puimood, Aravind.R, Aswathy A.S , Karthika.S, Kiran Xavier, Amar Mohan, Govind Nambiar, And Vijayakrishnan.

The Credits are; Anoop.S Kalarikkal (Art & Properties), Jolly Antony (Set), Kishore.M (Live Percussion), Reju Gregory( Harmonium, Key Board, & Guitar), -Aarsha Chandanavattam , &Nandini R Nair (Vocal Support), Shirly Somasundaram (Costumes), Rema.K Nair, (Make Up & Costume), Sarath R Nadh (Direction Assistance), Gireesh Menon (Music & Lighting) and Charu Narayanan (Stage In Charge). The Play Is Produced By Mazhavillu, the Children’s Theatre Of Lokadharmi, Scripted, Designed and Directed by Chandradasan.

A journey through Bommanahalli

K Surekha

First Published : 18 May 2010 01:03:00 AM IST

The New Indian Express daily

KOCHI: The aspirants of Mazhavillu, children’s wing of Lokadharmi theatre transported the audience to Bommanahalli and its milieu with vibrancy and ease. Bommanahalliyile Kinnara Yogi, the colourful adaptation of Browning’s poem by Kuvempu came alive on stage in Chandradasan’s hands as he blended the local, national and global aesthetics with his apt design, script and direction. Legends, myths, rituals, traditions and beliefs that ruled the villagers of yore took one back in time even as they rang a bell of contemporary realities.

All the 33 kids, a few changing roles now and then to bring to life a village setting, did justice to their characters.

They seemed to enjoy every moment on stage making the character come alive.

From start they lured the audience with their passionate performance like the Yogi who magnetised the rats and later kids with his music on the ‘kinnara’.

This poetic drama began with song and dance, with the chorus enlightening the viewers wherever required.

One can sense the mood of the villagers. Like today the people are unhappy with the authority. Village chieftain Gowda lacks vision and dreams only of minting money, threatening the people with dire consequences if they don’t pay taxes. The villagers are burdened with a new problem - vermin menace. The bold and naughty rats stop at nothing. They eat food, destroy clothes and one even steals the chieftain’s turban and places it on its head to be leader. He manages his clan better than Gowda does, always scheming and plotting ways to overcome the traps laid by the villagers. They easily capture the rat-trap man, they create havoc at the rat yagna. They kill the cat and attack the dog. Repeated complaints and his own bitter experiences with the pests prompt Gowda to offer 6000 gold coins to anyone who can solve the problem. All look out for ideas and they see the dramatic arrival of Yogi accompanied by his people dancing his way through the audience to the stage. He stuns them with his song, dance and tales about his skill to rid rats in Kailasa and Vaikunta.

 

He demands a price and is satisfied by 6000 gold coins. Gowda falls at his feet and pleads for help. The Yogi like the Pied Piper charms the rats with his music and leads them to a river where all but one perish, which relates the plight of his companions and begs for mercy which is granted. The rats symbolically throw their masks into the river and don the role of village children who are lured away by the Yogi in retaliation of the chieftain’s refusal to pay the promised money. A lame child is left lamenting. The people who forgave the lonely rat are full of hate for the Yogi. The play does not end there, the villagers take you off stage where the Yogi is burned in effigy (reminiscent of rituals and Ramlila in which the victory of good over evil is celebrated by burning effigies), with all the characters singing and dancing around.

The Yogi is believed to visit the village every year to seek his reward. The play is layered with political, cultural and ecological implications which are not lost with kids taking on mature roles.

The conflict between Gowda and the people, the rats and the villagers, Gowda and Yogi, cat and rats, dog versus rats say much about mutual coexistence of man and animals.

 

Smooth dialogue delivery, change of scene and roles and natural acting accentuated by song, dance, music and lighting, simple narration, apt props and the style of presentation with many narrative forms and traditions, apt props made the show entertaining and though-provoking. Each kid was lost in his or her role taking the audience to the rustic simplicity of village life in general and Bommanahalli of Yore in particular.

Courtesy: The new Indian Express

surekha@expressbuzz.com

Stills: Jipson

The Pied Piper of Bommanahalli

 

Express Features

First Published : 12 May 2010 12:46:00 AM IST

Last Updated :

KOCHI: Children’s theatre Mazhavillu is all set to stage Bommanahalliyile Kinnara Yogi on Friday evening. The play revolves around Kuvempu’s imaginative adaptation of Browning’s Pied Piper of Hamelin.

Chandradasan has made it into a poetic narrative, sung and enacted by a group of singer-actors.

The meaning and objective of this production is basically achieved through the rendering of the characters and their depiction. Each character is delineated and represented in specific expose so that the narrative is developed into a form that relates to the contemporary reality and time.

Gowda is the usual, inefficient village-chief interested in nothing but collecting taxes, eating and sleeping.

In a shift from the poem, Gowda does not offer 6000 gold coins to Yogi as a reward for killing the rats.

He offers this amount to any villager who can stop people from complaining. One of the villagers tell Yogi about this. In fact, the village does not have that much money to spare, and Gowda is left to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to Yogi.

Yogi is a performer and charmer who is able to lure people. He boasts that he is a friend of Lord Siva and Vishnu and has eradicated rats from Kailasa and Vaikunta.

And he insists on getting the money for his services. Yogi is alien to the rustic simplicity of the rural Bommanahalli.

He comes from a faraway place with some odd objectives which the simpletons of the village cannot recognise.

They are victims to the existing practice of Gowda, the rat attack and later to the ploy of Yogi.

The rats are naughty and daring; they do all kinds of mischief. The story of the pied piper is narrated in direct, simple, transparent and candid style. It is attempted to create a cosmos of the exuberance, earthiness, and hurdles of rural life where various ecosystems co-exist.

Towards the end of the play the people understand the pain of the lone rat and decide not to kill it.

It is the empathy with which men and animals understand and respond reciprocally that expresses the mutuality of existence subtly but clearly.

The performance structure, design and form are derived from many narrative forms of various living traditions.

The play will be staged at Changampuzha Park on May 14 at 6.30 p.m.

Courtesy ; Indian Express, 12 May 2010