Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Festival to commemorate World Theatre Day

Staff Reporter

`Dushala' talks about the pangs of a neglected girl child

MADURAI: Can drama provide emotional space for a person to move about freely? Yes, asserts Parasuram Ramamoorthy of School of Performing Arts, Madurai Kamaraj University.

Amidst the immense stress and strain of mundane pressures, theatre has the potential to lift a person to a different level, where the voiceless have enough freedom and space for expression and wishful thinking becomes a reality.

Male-centric society

This factor also holds good for women fighting for survival in a male-centric society.

No doubt, `Velvi,' a Centre for Indian Arts and Culture, and Department of Communication of Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary (TTS) chose to celebrate the International Women's Day and World Theatre Day in unison by organising a theatre festival on March 30.

Two plays

Briefing presspersons here on Saturday, Prof. Ramamoorthy said that two plays would be performed on that day. `Dushala,' a historical narrative, which talks about the pangs of a neglected girl child.

Staged by Preetham Chakravarthy, the play effectively rereads history in the woman's point of view.

The play was chosen specially to commemorate International Women's Day, said Prof. Ramamoorthy.

Power crisis

The second play to be enacted on that day would be `Nadukkadalil.' Directed by N. Rajkumar, the drama identifies the wickedness in every human and the haunting power crisis.

P.R. Margaret Kalaiselvi, Head, Department of Communications, TTS, said that women getting sidelined was not new in patriarchal society.

Even in some of the epics, women had no major role to play compared to other male characters. It was also common to people following different religious faiths.

Hence, plays such as `Dushala' would definitely kindle the spirits of the audience to rethink, she added.

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