23/09/2010 Town Hall

Le mashale from Pune 

പൂനയില്‍ നിന്ന്‌  - ലെ മഷാലേ

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yakshikkadhakalum varthamanangalum from Suvarna theatres, perumbavoor

പെരുമ്പാവൂര്‍ സുവര്‍ണാതീയറ്റേഴ്‌സിന്റെ - യക്ഷിക്കഥകളും നാട്ടുവര്‍ത്തമാനങ്ങളും

23/09/2010 Town Hall

The Rustic Interpretations of the Fables of Yakshi

Just like the people who keep a night watch of the poultry against the cunning foxes, a woman living alone will have several messiahs, if she is not ill or a yakshi. But when the fowls read in the sheen of the swords of the night watchers, their own destiny, what shall be their strategies for survival? Yakshikathakalum Nattuvarthamanangalum (The Fables of Yakshi and the Rustic Lore) by Suvarna Theatres Valayanchirangara, Ernakulam, which won awards for the best play, playwright and best actress in the State Amateur Drama Festival, raises the same pertinent question.

The play recounts the tale of woes of a woman destined to live alone and her struggles to face it. The social discontent arising out of the unconventional wedding of the Street Theatre activists Kunjananthan and Pournami ultimately lands the former in jail. Here begins her saga of loneliness and segregation. The messiahs land against this backdrop. For her, life is a struggle to protect her body from these new protectors. When the lonely woman becomes a sensational topic, gossips are abound that she is an AIDS patient. Pournami makes this fresh allegation a shield for her body. In front of the people who were waiting to celebrate her trial upon her husband’s return, they enact their play of life, a play within a play. The people are scared of her too, especially when she is ill and later alleged as a Yakshi.

When a rustic tale is told with a flow you can feel the same in the performance. The play problematises the politics of the body, especially the politics involved in the social ascription of responsibility to a woman residing alone to protect her body. It also reiterates that the greed, invasions and infringement on the private environs that lie behind all news and their interpretations ultimately amount to the subjectification of the female. The crux of the play is the performances of Pournami enacted by Surabhi C. M, a theatre student of Sanskrit University, Kalady, and Pottipennu by Arya Vinod, who also happens to be a previous student of the same institution. K Vinod Kumar lecturer in Theatre, Sanskrit University, Kalady, handled the script and direction. The actors, matured by time and experience and emboldened by the strength of colloquial tongue take perfect control of the play. Vinod has combined the strategies of Street, Realistic, and Magical theatres effectively. His achievement is that he could maintain the simplicity in the script in direction as well. The light is handled by Girish Menon, and music by Sudhi Vattappinni, Manu Krishnan,  P. A Aneesh and V. T Rathessh. The setting is by Sajeevan Kalpada. Above all, it’s human life and society that fills the discursive space of the Fables of Yakshi. That itself accounts for the play’s success.

  

 

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Collective Signs Payyannur Presents
Jalakhatikaram / The water clock     ജലഘടികാരം
Play – Malayalam – 70 Min.
Synopsis:

The protagonist of the Play, Ashokan, is as an artist who has a disturbed emotional life. He is extremely sensitive to his surroundings and forms his own opinion and attitude towards the things happening around him. The style in which he expresses his feelings makes him an enemy of the political and the business class. His condition becomes too worse and he is admitted to the hospital.  Real and unreal characters visit him in his hallucination. The rest in the Stage…

Directors Note:

            In all the Indian classical performing art forms the story will be familiar. Then what else? The performance. I do not intend to direct somebody or something else. Here I try to look into the different hallucinations - Theatre, film, football, nationalism, politics, power, literature… - through which a generation is being brought up.  I think this Situation is not very alarming but it is going to be worse than ever

jalaghadikaram from Collective signs, payyannur

പയ്യന്നൂര്‍ കളക്ടീവ്‌ സൈന്‍സിന്റെ  - ജലഘടികാരം

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Quick Death from theatre roots & Wings

 തീയറ്റര്‍ റൂട്ട്‌സ്‌ ആന്റ്‌ വിങ്‌സിന്റെ - ക്വിക്ക്‌ ഡെത്ത്‌

25/09/2010 Malabar Christian College

Written by Richard Murphet
Directed by Sankar Venkateswaran 

A series of shots, for instance, of a gun firing, a man falling and a woman screaming, can come in any order. There is no correct formula for this scene, and, more importantly, there is no wrong one either.

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Death brought individuality into the world, and the struggle for existence. And this struggle led to evolution. If you place a gun against a man’s head he suddenly knows very clearly that he wants to live. Death is the gun placed against the head of all living creatures- the goad of evolution.

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Richard Murphet's Quick Death reveals to us the deceptions in the narratology that 'well-made plays'  have been propagating about about human experience. Life cannot be experienced as we experience it in films or well-made plays, with a beginning, middle and end. It consists of rather disconnected events and occurrences which we associate to make sense. Causality is not the norm here. Rather a web of associations

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Theatre Roots & Wings is a collective of theatre artistes from various parts of the world, who come together to meet, work, and create new, innovative, purposeful, relevant and original pieces of theatre in a context that bridges tradition and modernity, local and the global, and, the individual and wider society.

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Waiting For Godot from bangalore

ബാംഗ്ലൂര്‍ നിന്ന്‌  - വെയിററിംഗ്‌ ഫോര്‍ ഗോദോ

                                                   27/09/2010 Tagore Centinary Hall

                                                       അവതരിപ്പിക്കുന്ന മലയാള നാടകം

ഗോദോയെ കാത്ത്
WAITING FOR GODOT
നോബേല്‍ ജേതാവ്  സാമുവല്‍ ബെക്കറ്റിന്‍റെ
വിശ്വവിഖ്യാത ട്രാജികോമഡി

സംവിധാനം: നന്ദജന്‍ KA
വിവര്‍ത്തനം: കടമ്മനിട്ട
Creative contributions: നന്ദകുമാര്‍

അഭിനേതാക്കള്‍
വ്ലാഡിമിര്‍: പ്രകാശ് ബാരെ
എസ്ട്രഗന്‍: മനോജ്കുമാര്‍ IOTA
പോസ്സോ: ശിവദാസന്‍ CN
ലക്കി: ഹരിദാസന്‍ KR
കുട്ടി: ശിവാനി

നോബല്‍ സമ്മാനജേതാവായ സാമുവല്‍ ബെക്കറ്റിന്‍റെ  'ഗോദോയെ കാത്ത്' കഴിഞ്ഞ നൂറ്റാണ്ടിലെ ഏറ്റവും ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ നാടകങ്ങളില്‍ ഒന്നാണ്. അസംബന്ധ നാടക വേദിയിലെ ഏറ്റവും മികച്ച സൃഷ്ടികളില്‍  ഒന്നായി കരുതപ്പെടുന്ന കൃതിയാണിത്.  ഘടനയിലും പാത്രസൃഷ്ടിയിലും വളരെ ലളിതം. കാലാതിവര്‍ത്തിയായ പ്രമേയം. അസംബന്ധപൂര്‍ണമായ സംഭാഷണങ്ങളും ചലനങ്ങളും. ആക്ഷേപ ഹാസ്യത്തിന്‍റെ ചാട്ടവാര്‍ പ്രഹരങ്ങല്‍. ചിരിയുടെയും ചിന്തയുടെയും ഖജനാവ്‌. ഈ നാടകത്തിന്‍റെ  പുതിയ രംഗ ഭാഷ്യത്തില്‍  കലാപത്തിന്‍റെ  ഇരകള്‍ എന്ന തലത്തിലാണ് അജ്ഞാതനായ ഗോദോയെ കാത്തിരിക്കുവാന്‍ വിധിക്കപ്പെട്ട എസ്ട്രഗനെയും വ്ലാഡിമിറിനെയും അവതരിപ്പിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്.

ആധുനിക ലോകനാടകവേദിയിലെ ഈ നിത്യഹരിതനാടകം ബാംഗ്ലൂരിലും തുടര്‍ന്നിപ്പോള്‍ കേരളത്തിലും അവതരിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്  സിലിക്കണ്‍ മീഡിയ ആണ്.  മലയാള സിനിമാ നിര്‍മാണത്തിന് പുതിയ മുഖഭാവം നല്‍കിയ കൂട്ടുകെട്ടാണ് സിലിക്കണ്‍  മീഡിയ. പ്രിയനന്ദനന്‍ സംവിധാനം 'സൂഫി പറഞ്ഞ കഥ', എം.ജി ശശി സംവിധാനം ചെയ്ത 'ജാനകി' എന്നീ ചിത്രങ്ങള്‍ക്കു ശേഷം മലയാളനാടക വേദിയിലേക്കുള്ള സിലിക്കണ്‍ മീഡിയയുടെ ആദ്യ കാല്‍വെപ്പാണ്‌ ഗോദോ. സൂഫി പറഞ്ഞ കഥയിലെ അഭിനേതാക്കളായ പ്രകാശ്‌ ബാരെയും മനോജും ആണ് ഈ നാടകത്തിലെ പ്രധാന കഥാപാത്രങ്ങള്‍ ആയ എസ്ട്രഗനെയും വ്ലാഡിമിറിനെയും അതരിപ്പിക്കുന്നത്. സൂഫിയുടെ സഹസംവിധായകന്‍ ആയ നന്ദജന്‍ ആണ് 'ഗോദോയെ കാത്ത്' സംവിധാനം ചെയ്യുന്നത്. അമ്പതോളം നാടകങ്ങള്‍ ഇത് വരെ സംവിധാനം ചെയ്തിട്ടുള്ള നന്ദജന്‍ ആധുനിക നാടകങ്ങളെ സാര്‍വ്വത്രികമാക്കുന്നതില്‍ തനതായ പങ്കു വഹിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്‌. 
ഈ രംഗാവതരണത്തിന്‍റെ പ്രത്യേകതകള്‍ കലാപങ്ങളുടെ അന്തരീക്ഷവും കാത്തിരിപ്പും കാലാതിവര്‍ത്തിയായി നിലനില്‍ക്കുന്നതിനാല്‍ കലാപത്തിന്‍റെ  ഇരകള്‍ എന്ന നിലയ്ക്ക് ഈ നാടകത്തിലെ കഥാപാത്രങ്ങളെ പുനരാവിഷ്കരിക്കുന്നത് വര്‍ത്തമാനകാലത്തിനു തീര്‍ത്തും അനുയോജ്യമായാണ്. മലയാളത്തിന്‍റെ ജനകീയ കവി കടമ്മനിട്ട രാമകൃഷ്ണന്‍റെ  'ഗോദോയെ കാത്ത്' എന്ന വിവര്‍ത്തനമാന് ഈ അവതരണത്തിന്‍റെ അവലംബം. ബെക്കറ്റിന്‍റെ ദര്‍ശനത്തിലൂടെ വര്‍ത്തമാന കാലത്തെ നോക്കിക്കാണാനുള്ള ഒരു ശ്രമം കൂടിയാണ് ഈ പുനരാവിഷ്കാരം.

Contact: info.siliconmedia@gmail.com

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Campus Film Festival List- Kozhikode

Synopses:

Throne of Blood

Direction: Akira Kurosawa

Japan/1957/105’/Japanese

In this film, Kurosawa follows the events of Macbeth, although Kurosawa’s Washizu Taketoki (played by Toshirō Mifune) is arguably less evil than Macbeth. As with the play, the main character's comrade (General Miki, played by Minoru Chiaki) is killed when he is perceived as a threat to the throne, only to return as a ghost. There is no Macduff character in this picture; hence Washizu does not meet his end in a duel. Instead, he is shot by his own archers and stumbles forward before being shot in the neck. He slowly descends the stairs and dies, collapsing dramatically on the fog-soaked ground.

Hamlet

Direction: Laurence Olivier

UK/153’/1948/English

Winner of four Academy Awards, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired – both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself- as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.

Henry V

Direction: Laurence Olivier

UK/137’/1944/English

Olivier mustered out of the navy to film this adaptation of Shakespeare’s history. Embroiled in World War II , Britons took courage from this tale of a king who surmounts overwhelming odds and emerge victorious. This sumptuous Technicolor rendering features a thrilling recreation of the battle of Agincourt, and Sir Laurence in his prime as director and actor.

In Othello
INDIA / 2004 / 103 MIN / ENGLISH
Directed by: Roysten Abel
A multicultural theater company in today’s New Delhi is staging a production of Shakespeare’s Othello. The director takes a bold step by casting an inexperienced small town actor as Othello. The new actor falls in love with the leading lady, who is also the director’s love-interest, and the two men become bitter rivals. Things become even more complicated as the actors’ theatrical personae start to seep into their lives outside the theater.

Getting Home

Direction: Zhang Yang

China/2007/90’/Mandarin-Chinese

The film is a comedy/drama directed by Zhang Yang and starring Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan. The film is episodic in nature and follows two workers in their 50's, Zhao (Zhao Benshan) and Liu (Hong Qiwen). The film opens when Liu unexpectedly dies after a night of drinking and Zhao decides to fulfill a promise to his friend to get him home beginning a long odyssey from Shenzhen to Chongqing with Liu's corpse on his back. Along the way, Zhao meets a variety of figures, played by several of China's better known character actors.

The Fish Child

Direction: Lucia Puenzo

Argentina-France-Spain/2009/96’/Spanish-Guarani

Lala, a teenager from the most exclusive suburban neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, is madly in love with Guayi, her family’s 20-year old Paraguayan maid. The lesbian lovers dream of living together in Paraguay and begin to steal and sell all they can get their hands on to fund their escape. Their risky plan goes terribly wrong; Guayi disappears and is taken into custody for a crime she did not commit. Desperate, Lala will stop at  nothing to be with Guayi  again, even if it means unraveling the secrets of her dark past, hidden past.

Kekexli: Mountain Patrol
Direction: Chuan Lu
China/2004/85’/Mandarin-Tibetan
The Tibetan Mountain Patrol, a self-sponsored outcast regimen established to eliminate
illegal slaughtering of endangered Tibetan Antelopes by impoverished local and out-
of-province peasants, intimately engages with a half-Tibetan journalist from Beijing
in a desolate depiction of human nature in the outskirts of Kekexili during a last resort
campaign of portent and trial. When Beijing journalist Ga Yu arrives at the mystical
camp of the Kekexili Mountain Patrol, he witnesses a Tibetan funeral and a village
in mourning. Ga Yu is determined to uncover the real story behind the mysterious
disappearance of patrol volunteers, the killing of rare Tibetan antelopes and the rumor
that the Mountain Patrol collaborates with the poachers. To the patrol members, Kekexili
is their homeland as well as it is the habitat of the antelopes. In the transmigration of life,
they will always be on guard for the homeland.

All the World’s a Stage
Direction: Nirmal Chander
India/2009/59.30’/Hindi-Gujarati
Settled mainly on the west coast of India, the Sidis are a small community that came
from East Africa about 800 years ago. Centuries of discrimination and indifference
have pushed them down the socio-economic ladder, but their unique devotional music
has given them a strong sense of identity and stability. All the World’s a Stage weaves
together the lives and aspirations of a motley group who make up an internationally
successful performance group called the Sidi Goma.

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Kerala Theatre in the 21^st century

                Sajitha Madathil

Those who are closely watching Kerala theatre for last few years would observe interesting changes emerging. Young Malayalee directors who have good exposure to national and international art world and deep roots in Malayalam theatre have begun to distinguish themselves with wonderful productions. And they are also creating their audience who are receptive to the new language they are creating. You can see the confidence appearing in young theatre workers….Yes it’s a time for change.

Though the mainstream discussions on theatre were always loud about how the experiments in theatre have distanced the theatre goers, and how it was close to the audience at the time of social movements. It is interesting to see how this discussions are placing experiments in opposition to realism. The basic arguments that run through these discussions are that the experiments inherent in movements like Kalari, Thanathu or dramatic works influenced by academic learning have alienated the common people from theatre! The proof produced in support of this notion is that the number of viewers has reduced to their hundreds while it was in the thousands in early 1950s. Is it possible to evaluate or judge any art form going by the number of people who appreciate it or attend a show?
Yes, Modern Theatre has established itself with its secular colour. It was considered as a form which can be appreciated by the masses and theatre has always been considered a tool to influence the consciousness of society. The adoption of Kalari movements theatre in the 1960s has for the first time attempted to take Kerala Theatre out, from textual language to visual text. That was a huge change, in theatre as an art form. Thanathu Movement or the search of for native roots and creating a national theatre came as a part of Nehruvian policy. Experimentation in theatre form and developing a theatre as a continuation of our culture, happened almost simultaneously after the 1960s. It took time to conceive and shape the form. Naturally theatre changed its face. It is not any more an item for entertainment just before a public meeting or a tool for changing their politics. Theatre had begun to stand on its own as a form with its own concerns of visual text and search for connection with roots.

The !970s and 1980s were again the time for new social movements. Plays created during that period combined of both the trends. Brehtian theatre language along with Kerala folk theatre, together shaped most of the street plays along with Kalari inputs. Viewers of these plays again were restricted to the community of the region. It was not mass attendance like that of the earlier audience for drama advocating social movements. Nexalite, Feminist, Environment and Dalit movements considered theatre as a potent device for effecting communication. Again, it is important to note that the very concept and form had changed much from the days of the early social plays like Ningalenne kammunistakki or Ethu bhoomiyannu. The expectations of the audience were different now from what it was before and in that sense we can see the real shift in the taste of theatre audience.  

What we provided for audiences outside Kerala is also an interesting subject to look at. What was Kerala theatre like, for a national-level audience? They were familiar with Thoppil Bhasi, G Sankara Pillai and K N Panikkar. That was the situation till the last decade.  Kerala theatre scenario has begun to change over the last few years. Several directors like Abhilash Pillai, Chadrahasan, Naripatta Raju, Jyothish M J, Deepan Vasudevan, Suveeran, Shanker venkiteswaran, Shylaja, Sudhi C V. Mini G K all are well known at the national level. Actor/Directors like Sreelatha S, Raguthaman, Shaji Kariyat, the present writer, and many more have added their experience, buttressed by inputs from national and international theatre, to Kerala theatre. Musicians like Chandran have enriched Kerala theatre music with their invaluable international experience. They all are dealing with the issues of a globalised world and are trying to find a new language for their medium of art. Their challenges are much tougher than before. They are always open to traditional forms and also to new media. That is the world they all are living in. That is why this generation is open in incorporating all forms of art in theatre.

Again, if we come back to the discussion of the Kerala audience, it is easy to see how warmly such nationally acclaimed productions like Sidhartha, Spinal Chord, Sahyante Makan were received by the audience. What is lacking in Kerala is good theatre space to perform all these well designed productions. Some of these productions, even though well known at the national level, are still waiting for the Kerala audience to watch them, for want of proper theatre facilities. Are these new trends happening just because our directors are always trying to establish their work on par with national or international theatre productions? There is an argument that what we are lacking is small productions which can be go around and perform all over Kerala villages, which can produce real magic of theatre. It is also interesting to see that lots of good productions are coming from villages, developed  by skillful directors like Naripatta Raju, Suveeran and Promod Payyanoor. Here, the village artist who has training in theatre by practice, find resources at the local level to work with these directors. These productions are also equally competent at the national level. 
Different levels of theatre works are happening in Kerala, and several full-time theatre artists are struggling for survival. What is still lacking is a meaningful support for their artistic pursuit.

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