National Theatre Festival at Trivandrum

[Dr.Mahesh Mangalat]

Information and Public Relations Department of Kerala opens up a new
vista of cultural extravaganza, National Theatre Festival, to the art
aficionados of Kerala, which is scheduled from March 2-12, 2009 in
Thiruvananthapuram. ‘The fifth episode of the festival highlights the
theme- Modern-Contemporary Theatre will be a unique experience with
the presence of up-to-the-date drama techniques, a real light and
sound show without losing the essence of drama’ says the website of
PRD of the govt of Kerala.

The festival showcases plays of famous directors like Habib Tanvir,
Neelam man Singh Chaudhary, Kanaihalal, and Rajiv Krishnan, along with
Jyothish M.G, Shanmugaraja , Zuilekha Choudhary, Pabitra Rabha, Maya
Krishna Rao, Sankar Venkateswaran, Santanu Bose and Veenapani Chawla.

Most of the plays belong to the Post-Globalization Era; with
Fragmented, Mutilated, Multilingual, Inter-textual, Intercultural
experiments with technical extravaganza….

Macbeth (Malayalam) - Jyothish MG- Abhinaya, Thiruvanathapuram (2nd
March)

Jyotish MG’s adaptation of ‘Macbeth’ speaks a language of its own. The
65-minute play focuses on key incidents in the lives of the main
characters —Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo. Realising that the
audience would be well aware of the plot, the director has shifted
stress on emotions and internal conflicts.

Kuthirai Muttai (Tamil) – Shanmugaraja- Nigazh Madurai (3rd march)
M. Shanmugaraja’s play ‘Kuthirai Muttai’ (Horse egg) of Constantine
Joseph Beschi, an Italian Jesuit Priest, who was popularly known as
‘Veeramamunivar’., who had learnt Tamil language with an intention to
befriend and inspire Tamil-speaking public and in turn got inspired
and fell in love with the language itself. The play captures the
essence of humour depicting the sage and his whimsically humorous
journey in pursuit of disciples.

On Seeing (English) – Zuilekha Choudhary –Performers at Work, Delhi
(4th march)

Sangathi Arinhya! - have you heard (English, Malayalam, Tamil)- Rajiv
Krishnan – Perch Chennai (5th March)

''Sangathi Arinhya! (Have you heard!)’ is an adventurous mix of seven
stories by Basheer, all different, but with a common vein of love,
humor and pathos running through them. A connecting link in this heady
concoction is the character of Basheer himself, who plays narrator,
participant and witness in turn. These stories are blended together in
a non-linear narrative that reveals the extraordinary range of
Basheer’s writing and experiences. Paul Mathew who was with Lokadharmi
during the early nineties has written the script and also acts in the
lead role as Basheer.

A Chik A –Song (Garo) – Pabitra Rabha – Dapon, Assam (6th march)

Pabitra Rabha’s Garo a young NSD graduate in his play A-chik A song,
the first ever play in Garo language depicts the culture of the Garos
and dealt with the Garo community’s socio-political history and an
episode of their armed resistance against the British. The director
uses elements from the rich Garo folk tales, traditional costume and
music.

Sahyande Makan- The Elephant Project (Malayalam-Japanese) - Sankar
Venkateswaran - Theatre Roots & Wings- Thrissur (7th March)

Based on the poem by Vyloppilly Sreedhara Menon, the play depicts the
conflict between internal and external realities as symbolized by an
elephant reminiscing and hallucinating about his childhood. Set
against the Temple Festivals of Kerala this turn out to be a multi-
sensory and multi-lingual, inter-cultural construct, with the elephant
portrayed by Japanese performer, Micari; Micari used her eyes, lips
and body to animate many an unsaid emotion and the silences seemed
more powerful than the intermittent Japanese or Malayalam. Sankar who
was featured in the last year’s edition of the same festival, uses
instruments from our mizhavu to the Australian didgeridoo, to
fireworks to Recreating the feel of the Thrissur Pooram. Remember
Sankar was featured in last edition of the festival with his
technically precise ‘Quick Death’.

Charandas Chor (Chhattisgarhi) – Habib Tanvir - Naya Theatre Bhopal
(8th march)

This classic masterpiece play by Habib Tanvir returns to Kerala again.
The tumultuous life of a petty thief Charandas, who makes four vows to
his Guru, that he would never to eat in a gold plate, never to lead a
procession that is in his honour, never to become a king and never to
marry a princess, thinking all of them are far out possibilities for
him. Later, his guru adds a fifth one - never to tell a lie and sets
him of on his life's journey which leads him to a kingdom, where the
turn of events make him famous, and eventually he is offered the seat
of political power which he has to refuse. The local princess gets
enchanted by him, and proposes to marry him. This is when his refusal
costs him his life. As he is put to death, he illustrates the inherent
paradox in human existence, where truthful existence becomes
impossibility.

An exciting production, with the exuberant wit and energy of the
Chhattisgarhi village performers of Naya Theatre, with improvised
dialogue, music, songs and dance is the play that redefined Indian
theatre. Habib Tanvir's adaptation of this comic folk tale has been
acclaimed throughout India as one of the outstanding contributions to
New Indian Theatre.

But this time, we miss Habib Tanvir with this illustrious production
since ill health prevents him travel with the group.

Antigone (Bengali) – Santanu Bose – Saltlake Monirath Group Theatre
Kolkota (9th march)

The play is based on the Greek legend of Antigone, who takes on the
establishment for not granting her permission to perform the last
rites of one of her two brothers who died fighting on opposite sides
of the border. The tale of confrontation between the individual and
the establishment was portrayed in the present context with politics
of division, violence and people turning inhuman. Santanu says the
inspiration is drawn from the recent Nandigram and Singur incidents
and to showcase how human beings have learnt to live with violence
around; the play has Kolkata's chicken market in the background.

The Hare and the Tortoise – (Malayalam- English) - Veenapani Chawla -
Adishakti Theatre Company Pondicherry (10th march)

For Veenapani Chawla, theatre is a ‘synaesthesis’ of the arts that
allows the transition from one form of expression to another aimed to
have a powerful and sensorial impact on the spectator. She attempts to
contemporize traditional knowledge and create a theatre that does not
restrict itself to literary connotations. It involves other forms of
art like dance, music, movements, puppets and craft ;the boundaries
set by each form blends to bring out, a new contemporary theatre --
the result of engaging in dialogues between different times, cultures
and spaces, and genres. In The Hare and the Tortoise, the race between
the archetypal competitors such as Ganapati and Kartik, Ekalavya and
Arjuna, and Arjuna and Hamlet is performed in a non-linier narrative
with body movements, the light, the word and the music…



Daak-Ghar (Manipuri) – Kanhailal - Kalakshetra Manipur (11th March)

This play is directed by Heisnam Kanhailal, which multilingual is a
multilingual production in Manipuri, Bengali, Assamese, Rabha, Bodo
and Tripuri, that explores the workings of one's soul. This play is an
adaptation of Rabindra Nath Tagore play that describes how a child –
striving to escape his stuffy confines – ultimately “falls asleep”.
Kanhailal’s adapted version of the Tagore play has 60 year old Sabitri
Haisnam playing the lead role of young Amal, with her extraordinary
expressive ability – through physical, non-verbal theatre. The
production uses lyrical Manipuri dance and H. Tomba’s music.

Heads Are Meant for Walking Into (Multilingual) - Maya Krishna Rao –
Vismayah Delhi (12th march)

Heads Are Meant for Walking Into is, a non-linear, non-narrative, and
non-sentimental construct — in a typical Maya Rao inspired from a
short story by Saadat Hasan Manto, where a father is in search for his
lost daughter in a crowd of fleeing people. The performance seeks not
to tell this story, rather to develop a range of physical actions and
emotions that grows in intensity and depth to a point where he begins
to find her in himself, in his body; and finally, in the heightened
world of dance. This production, with intersecting music and
percussion, live and recorded video feeds, and amplified live speech
has a minimal verbal text. The solo actor’s body hovers between being
a ‘character’ and a ‘presenter’ without sharp delineation, -- a
production so technologically ‘constructed’, tends towards a
fragmented abstraction.

The Suit (Punjabi) - Neelam Mansingh (12th March) – The company
Chandigarh

Neelam Mansingh’s “The Suit”, a play in English and Punjabi, based on
a theatrical fable written by South African writer Can Themba. This
play explores the man-woman relationship in all its depths without
being judgmental, and offers neither explanation for the betrayal by
the wife who is discovered in bed with her lover by her husband nor
any justification for the subsequent behavior of the husband.

The husband decries that the suit left by the lover be treated like an
honored guest and ensures it “sits” on the dinner table with them,
even goes out for walks and is treated like a guest at a party thrown
by the couple.

Finally the wife transforms into a woman of her own by going on to
wear the suit with an endearing quality of a woman who is proclaiming
“it (the suit) is my skin”.

Mansingh, with a set, ideal for domestic squalor, distorts stage space
and time for a complex narrative in which there is simultaneous action
in two spaces and uses the setting for multiple locations; her
theatrical idiom uses minimal music, lights and sets. Neelam uses all
her favourite images - water, fire and smoke from the stove, bathing,
food in a tiffin box, and lipstick.

The theatre activists of Kerala are looking forward to this event in
anticipation. But the festival can be organised at different venues of
the state other than Thiruvananthapuram, (last year also it was held
in Thiruvananthapuram) or at least take few of the productions to the
other cities to organize a satellite festival.

[Dr.Mahesh Mangalat]

More details on the Theater Festival can be seen here: www.chandradasan.blogspot.com