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Two stages for the future
S. MUTHIAH
LISTENING TO the speakers at the inauguration of the Madras Players' Golden Jubilee Year the other day, two thoughts struck me on how the seniormost theatre group could help heritage in the city that it considers itself a part of in the words of several of those speakers.
One suggestion is based on one of the best theatre spaces in the city that is at present under restoration and being made ready for use in 2006, in time to launch the 150th year celebrations of the University of Madras. I refer to Senate House, where many a member of the Madras Players may have received his or her degree. It strikes me that it would be a great idea if the Madras Players teamed with players of other groups — many of whom are likely to be graduates of Madras University — and planned on inaugurating the Senate House stage with a mega-production or a theatre festival in 2006.
The other suggestion is to request the Madras Players to play a lead role in reviving yet another historic theatre space in the city, namely the Victoria Public, or Town, Hall. Once, this was the premier performance space for not only North Madras but for the entire city. It is a hall with several rooms for lectures, rehearsals, etc. There have been for some years now plans to restore the building to its past glory but for one reason or another these plans have not taken off.
May I suggest that people like P. C. Ramakrishna, Gayathri Krishnaswami, N. S. Yamuna, Vishalam Ekambaram, Bhaghirathi Narayanan and Mithran Devanesan take the lead in getting all the English and Tamil theatre groups together, form a delegation, including people like `Cho' Ramaswamy and `Crazy' Mohan, and meet those in charge of the Town Hall to request them to get the restoration of this heritage theatre under way this year? The Town Hall was where Sambandam Mudaliar and his Suguna Vilas Sabha kept Madras entertained. It's time these heritage premises did the same again. An all-dramatic players' delegation might just do the trick.
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