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Offering a stage for cultural diversity

Abhilash Pillai, director of the Second International Theatre Festival of Kerala, which began here on Sunday, has said that the foremost objective of the festival is to resist monoculture, an effect of globalisation.

Mr. Pillai told The Hindu that the main idea was to project cultural diversity that was under threat in the globalised world.

“The 10-day festival is mainly to discuss cultural diversity and to encourage respect for the differences,” he stated. Actor Murali had laid the foundation for the festival. “He had suggested the names of groups from South Africa and Kenya. He specifically wanted to invite a students’ group from Africa,” Mr. Pillai said.

While selecting the Indian plays, Mr. Pillai wanted the two major streams of Indian drama to be represented: Realist Theatre and Theatre of Roots. “Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘The Caine Mutiny Court Martial’ stands for the text-based realist drama, while Ratan Thiyam’s ‘When We Dead Awaken’ does the other. Another concern has been to explore the work of young dramatists from Kerala who have gone beyond these streams,” Mr. Pillai said.

Plays by two young Malayali directors are bound to be a new experience. They seek new avenues for theatre in the digital age. ‘Sahyante Makan’ by Sankar Venkiteswaran and ‘Spinal Code’ by C.S. Deepan eschew the proscenium theatre.

Abhilash Pillai is a graduate in Theatre Arts from Calicut University and a post-graduate in design and direction from the National School of Drama. He also holds a diploma in Theatre Production and Stage Management from RADA, London. A teacher with the National School of Drama, he has directed plays in Indian languages and English.

K. Santhosh

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