Folk fervour
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`Bommalaata' made for a fine blend of the traditional folk art puppetry and modern drama.
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PLAY TIME A scene from the play `Bommalaata'.
Kalabharathi last Tuesday witnessed the play Bommalaata, the only one in Telugu that could so far find a slot at the National Theatre Festival, Delhi since 1988. Not only that, scripted by Nadiminti Narasinga Rao and directed by renowned dramatist L. Satyanand for Kalaajyostna, the experimental play, a fine blend of the traditional folk art puppetry (Tholubommalaata) and modern drama, was successfully stagedfor 102 days continuously at Gurajada Kalakshetram in Visakhapatnam in 1992.
The major attraction of the play lies in the novel way the director shrewdly simulated the enchanting splendour of puppetry sans any puppet on the stage and made it an integral part of it. He made all his actors including himself not only get substituted for the puppets but also with enticing empathy feign all their articulated gesticulations (accomplished by the puppeteer through a string of thread), which symbolise different characters.
A few patches of inconsonant inconsistencies in the affectation of the native charm of the rustic folk fervour notwithstanding, the presentation of Mohini Bhasmasura and Varakatnanishedam in the feigned form of puppet shows appeared perfect .
All the actors R.V. Ramana, as a practising puppeteer, Satyanand as another such artiste in distress and comedian Allatappaiah in the puppet show and Saarika as Bangarakka in particular lived their roles.
Nalla Sreenu as Vinayaka and Bhasmasura, M. Venkata Rao as Vishnu and the bride's father, Anil Kumar as Lord Siva and bridegroom, Hema as Mohini and the bride, S. Kumar as the political leader, B. Srinivas as Sishya, Jagdeesh as Kavi, Ramesh, Vijayasai and a few others as rowdies, adroitly showcased their talent.
Nischal who composed music, Bharani (make-up), Danny, Thataji, Ayyappa, Sanyasi Rao (stage dιcor), B. Sanyasi Rao and Devarakonda (lighting) and N. Naveen Kumar (publicity) proved to be invincible. The programme was organised under the aegis of the 8th Wonder Entertainers founded and headed by A.V.V.S. Murthy and Venkatesh alias Samudram.
A. R S
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