SPINAL CORD

October 16 Saturday 4 pm & 9 pm

Malabar Christian College
Producer: Oxygen Theatre Company
Director: Deeapan Sivaraman
Language: Malayalam
Duration:   1 Hour 45 Minutes

Directed by Deepan Sivaraman, for Oxygen Theatre Company, Thrissur, ‘Spinal Cord,’ based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s famed short story, ‘The Chronicle of A Death Foretold,’ won seven out of the 13 prestigious Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META), given at the national level this year.  The play won the Award for Best Production, for Best Director, Best Stage Design and Best Choreography for Deepan Sivaraman, Best Actor for Gopalan K., Best Supporting Actor for James Elia and Best Lighting Design for Jose Koshy.

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes

 

SYNOPSIS

‘Spinal Cord,’ narrates the story of an honour killing and its tragic consequences in a township.  Twenty seven years after the incident occurred, the victim’s mother wakes up from a haunting nightmare with the unpleasant memories of her son. 

When the newlywed Angela and Kunjavaran are left alone for their wedding night, Avaran discovers that his new wife is no virgin. Disgusted, he returns Angela to her family home that very night, where her humiliated mother beats her savagely and her brother demand to know her violator, whom she names Nasar.

As Nasar wakes up to the thoughts of the previous night’s wedding revelry, he is unaware of the slurs that have been cast against him. But with Angela’s brother set upon avenging his family honour, soon the whole town knows whom he plans to kill, where and when.  

Through the faded memories of the 80 year old mother, we start to see the tragic story of her son and the entire consequences of that honour killing. The play is developing through the narration of the mother which often oscillates between past and present.

Director’s Note

After all these years of continuous struggle in theatre making, now I think I have clearer reason why should I make theatre.  Certainly, not just because I have been trained to be a theatre maker nor I am unable to do anything else to make my ends meet. I do make theatre because I want to respond to the gestures of the society I live in, a contemporary living society. I want to emphasise this, I want to do theatre to challenge, insinuate and communicate with the society I live in RIGHT NOW. I hope ‘Spinal Cord,’ will make this point more loudly. Both form-wise and content-wise.

Why a text which reflects Latin American life?

The capitalist arrogance, religious verdigris, heap of injustice, corrupted political system, criminal police, shamelessly greedy bureaucracy, spiritual mafias and the endless hope for a better tomorrow of marginalised. What are not in common here? 

Why Marquez?

Because I admire his courage to tell the truth, his humanism, the way his characters dream, the way he breaks the wheel of the time machine. ‘Spinal Cord,’ is not just a murder story of an unfortunate victim. It’s a story of an unfair society which is struggling to reconnect its broken spine to reminisce the memories of an avoidable incident which devastated the lives of many. 

CAST AND CREDIT LIST

Cast

Anil. P: Chacko (Angela’s brother)

Gopalan. K: Mother

James Elia: Kunjavaran (Groom)

Rejitha .S. Kumar: Angela

Sajitha Madathil: House maid, Angela’s Mother, Milk Lady (Witness 2)

Jose P. Raphael: Nasar, Village Woman, Street Seller, Match-maker, Mayor (Witness

3)

Prathapan: Match-maker (Scene 1), Kunjavaran’s Assistant, Porter (Witness 4)

Rajan. C.R: Priest, Village Woman

Ram Kumar: Seuis (Widower), Postmortem assistant

Vinod Ghandi: Policeman, Village Woman, Bishop and Flower Man

Sunil Sukhada: Butcher

Credits 

Music & Sound Design:  V. Chandran

Lighting Design: Jose Koshy

Masks, Puppet & Props Design: K.G. Anto & O.C Martin

Administration & P.R.O: Renu Ramanath

Properties & Set Construction: Sarath, P. Vijayakumar, C.S Devan, Vinu Joseph,

Jose Koshy, Manoj, Sarath, Harish, Dhiljith

Costume Associate: Vinodan Pilakkal

Costume Making: Preman

Video & Graphics Design: Devan Madhathill

Make-Up: Suresh Muttathi

Sound Execution: Sajan K.M

Production Manager: Murali

Technical Director : C.S Devan

Stage Manager : Vinu Joseph

Script, Scenography & Direction: Deepan Sivaraman

A BRIEF NOTE ABOUT THE GROUP

Oxygen Theatre Company

Oxygen Theatre Company is a new experimental theatre group based in Thrissur, Kerala, in the south of India. It aims to develop theatre productions in collaboration with various visual artists from the disciplines of theatre, painting, sculpture, installation and video art. Oxygen researches and explores the possibilities of a contemporary modern visual language in Indian theatre which can possibly surmount the multilingual barriers.  Most of the members of this company have been working in theatre over 15 years as freelancers in association with various theatre groups in Kerala such as Root, Thrissur, Theatre Eye, Thrissur, Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and Rangachethana, Thrissur. Although most of the Oxygen members are not academically trained theatre artists, many of them are quite well known in the theatre scenario of Kerala for their socio-politically aware and radical approach towards theatre-making.

 

Director/ Playwright's Resume

Director, Playwright and Scenographer – Deepan Sivaraman

Deepan Sivaraman is a visual artist, writer, scholar, scenographer and director, currently based in London.  He was born in Kerala where he took BA (Calicut University, Kerala) MA (Pondicherry University) and M. Phil (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala) degrees in Theatre Arts and worked as a freelance theatre designer and director for 10 years. Later he moved to London with Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship to study MA in Scenography at Central Saint Martin'’ College of Art and Design. He has designed over 30 performances and directed 10 play productions for various theatre companies and academic institutions in India and Europe. His scenographical and directorial productions have been performed across India and participated in several theatre festivals including Avignon Fringe, 2007, Edinburgh Fringe 2006, Prithvi 2006 & 07,  ITFOK 09, and Bharat Rang Mahotsav 2002,03,04,05,10. His major scenographical and directorial projects includes ‘Ubu Roy,’ (Dir: Maya Thong Berg / 1997) ‘Thathri: Realising Self,’ (Dir: J. Shailaja/1999) ‘Verdigris,’ (2000), ‘Palm Grove Tales,’  (Dir: Abhilash Pillai / 2006) ‘Siddhartha,’ (2003), ‘Bhaghavadhajjugeeyam,’ (Dir: MG Jyothish / 2001), ‘One Day in Ashad,’ (1995), ‘Macbeth,’ (1996), ‘Lord of the Flies,’ (1997), ‘(Kamala,’ (2002), ‘The Circle of Seasons,’ (2004), ‘Death Dream,’ (2005), ‘Spinal Cord,’ (Dir: Deepan Sivaraman / 2009) and ‘Little India,’ (Sakunathalam / 2006 / Emily Gray). Presently he is undertaking a practice- led PhD exploring the topic 'Spatial Identities and Visual Language in Indian Theatre,’ at Wimbledon College of Art, London. He teaches art and scenography at University of the Arts, London.