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Stepping into the future

Vadivel Thambiran Arumugham's play "Peyythther" has been nominated for Mahindra Excellence Theatre Awards, in three categories

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

ARTISTE WITH A VISION From Arumugham's play

"The philosophy of one century is the common sense of the next," said

Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and reformer.

Creating new philosophies and ideas with an eye on the future is playwright, director and therukoothu artiste Vadivel Thambiran Arumugham, senior lecturer, Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University.

"If there is an end to this world I want to stand there and look at it from outside. If there is a thing smaller than neutrons, protons and the nucleus inside an atom, I want to look at it from inside. That is what scientists are also trying to do. But in India, our siddhars have done greater things. May be in the future even our scientists will be able to do many more things," he says.

One of Arumugham's plays "Peyythther" (Mirage) has been nominated for the Mahindra Excellence Theatre Awards. The play has found place in three categories — best production, best choreography and best lighting (done by Professor Raveendran, who has done lighting for more than 70 plays). The awards will be announced on March 11. The play was recently staged in Delhi and at the Alliance Francaise auditorium in Puducherry.

The play is an abstract treatment of the eternal questions, the mystery of the universe and the existential problems of man and society. The play shows a group of people who talk about whatever they eat, including the entire solar system, electrons and neutrons. But there are some things that are indigestible. The world is shown rotating and revolving in the pancha bhootha — earth, water, air, fire and space — in a cosmic dance. There is search, connection, struggle, constraint and loss.

"For the present generation, my plays may a bit of out of this world but in the future people will understand what I have been trying to do. I have inherited the therukoothu art form from my ancestors. I want to pass on my kind of plays that look into the future as a theatre tradition to my grand children. This is modern tradition that I am creating for the future," says Arumugham.

Though Arumugham stages modern plays and teaches at the university, he continues to perform therukoothu and also teaches it to students. A group of girls trained by him recently performed therukoothu. "In traditional koothu, the roles of women characters are enacted by men because the rendition has to be powerful. I tried to go against the rule and was not disappointed. The girls did really well. Arumugham is also credited with staging a one-man therukoothu. His production house, Thalai-K-Kol, has staged plays to support young theatre directors in the country.

"Not just mythological stories, you can pick stories from any language and present them in koothu style," says Arumugham, stressing that the art form beautifully connects cultures.

DEEPA H AMAKRISHNAN

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