Theatre from far and near
BHAWANI CHEERATH
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A 10-day theatre festival in the capital city will showcase the diversity in Indian theatre with plays in nine languages.
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INTERESTING FARE: B. Jayashree's `Chitrapata' in Kannada will be staged by her group, Spandana.
It is going to be theatre from far and near for 10 days. Sarang, a national theatre festival that is being held (12-22 November) in Thiruvananthapuram, showcases the diversity in Indian theatre. Sarang is being organised under the auspices of the Sri Satya Sai Orphanage Trust.
`Maa Nishaada,' a musical-theatrical event scripted by Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, who is also the director of the festival, will be enacted by inmates of the Orphanage.
Kannada play
Setting the mood for the festival is B. Jayashree's `Chitrapata.' She is the granddaughter of Gubbi Veeranna of the Gubbi Company fame and daughter of Malathamma, both legends of Karnataka theatre. A firm believer in the dictum that `in order to be convincing in certain traditions, there is the need to know how to act, sing and dance,' her theatre group, Spandana's, play holds promise for the theatre buff.
A modern day take on Draupadi is the Manipuri play by the same name presented by Kalakshetra from Manipur. Based on a novel by Mahashweta Devi, director H. Kanhailal uses the female body as the voice. Another play is `Pebet,' in which the director uses a folk tale as a peg to present his version on the political and cultural colonisation of his state.
Marathi theatre has rarely lost dynamism or momentum, therefore two plays by Atul Pethe, `Anandowari' and `Waiting for Godot' gives ample scope to display the abstract and the contemporary. `Anandowari' moves in the past and present through Kandoba's (Sant Tukaram's brother) performance and conveys both a social commentary and the spirituality of the poet-saint.
Arts Theatre Group from Udaipur stages `Samrat,' a Hindi translation of the original written by K. Jayakumar. Director Bhanu Bharati explores the transition of the warrior Ashoka. With four decades of experience in theatre, the director who has worked with tribals of the Mewar region, incorporates the life and ritualistic art of the Bhil tribe. `Pasugayatri' is a Mewari translation of the play by Kavalam Narayana Pannikkar.
Home theatre
Incorporating performance traditions of Kerala in the festival with `Soorpanakhangam' in Koodiyattom by Margi and `Ravanaputhri' in Kathakali by Drishyavedi completes the visual spectacle for the festival. `Chirondan' by Chirantana Theatres and `Karnabharam' by Lokadharmi are two other presentations from Kerala. Curtains come down on the festival with `Malavikaagnimitram' a Sanskrit-Hindi play, again by Pannikkar.
A highlight of the event will be the interactive session with the directors of the plays. Kannada writer U.R. Ananthamurthy had once remarked, "Theatre will keep all languages alive," and what better way than a festival that offers plays in nine Indian languages.
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