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Heroes without the aura
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Though addressing serious issues such as the status of women, it is not thick with gravitas. Instead, it is laced with repartees.
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"Padukalam" — presenting a vignette from The Mahabharata.
A MODERN Drama Festival is underway at the Museum Theatre in Egmore. Anyone with a questioning turn of mind will enjoy these plays, as most of them turn some of our collective beliefs on their head. "Padukalam", staged on the first day of the festival — December 18 — signified the shape of things to come.
The play pivots around the rite of "Padukalam" (which was performed on the 18th day of the Kurukshetra war when Duryodhana was brought low). Pleasantly in-the-face, the play divests mythological heroes of their aura and presents them in a lacklustre light. Though addressing serious issues such as the status of women, it is not thick with gravitas. Instead, it is laced with repartees. As the Pandavas go about getting their own back on the Kauravas, the audience are treated to some rib-tickling humour. Aravanan, who is killed on the eighth day of the Kurukshetra war, comes back from the dead to witness the war till it reaches its logical conclusion. Duryodhana on the run from Bhima exhibits the qualities of a court jester. Shakuni, the man with the vulpine cunning, is turned into a fox. The play, directed by N. Muthuswamy, was performed by Koothu-P-Patarai.
Another iconoclastic play — Upakathai — was staged on December 19. The play was directed by Pralayan and performed by Chennai Kalai Kuzhu. Upakathai resounds with the voice of the underdog. History is awash with accounts of the victorious, but silent on what the vanquished have to say. A subaltern historiography, it has Ekalayvan as its protagonist.
On Friday, "Manimekalai", performed by Mouna Kural, showcasing the historical character, captures the ordeal of a woman who is caught up in desires and ideals that are in opposition to each other. Another dance drama, directed by Prasanna Ramaswami, characterises peculiar fears and frustrations that contemporary life has imposed on us, as also our desire and concomitant efforts to live untrammelled by them. Modern verse and dance have been used as vehicles to convey this angst.
At 6 p.m. on Saturday, "Uthira Mugamudhi" will outline the long shadows that imperialism has cast over us. The play, which is set against a gloomy situation where the cachets of social and cultural heritage are being wiped out, says its piece though the compelling image of a "masked" Buddha wielding a ploughshare, which belongs to the Tretaya Age. The play will be performed by Manal Maghudi.
Later in the evening will be staged Polythene Nagaram, which is a trenchant criticism of the environmental excesses that characterise the urban situation. A children's play, it is performed by Maghizam.
A symposium at 10 a.m. on December 20 and at the same time on December 21 will seek to cover the waterfront of issues that bear upon modern Tamil drama.
The drama festival is being conducted under the steam of the Shriram Group. For more details, call 52155010.
By Prince Frederick
Photo: R. Ragu
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Life
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
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