The second edition of the five-day South Indian Peoples' Theatre Festival is all set to begin on Wednesday, October 2. Marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the festival will begin with a Kannada play - a dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and BR Ambedkar - presented by Natana Mysore and directed by C Basavalingaiah.
This festival, organised by Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association, along with Madras Kerala Samaj, will be held at Kerala Samaj at Kilpauk, Chennai, from October 2 to 6. The inaugural event is being attended by Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture K Pandiarajan, Carnatic singer and activist TM Krishna, actor Sachu, director Pa Ranjith, Minister Su Venkatesan and poet Devendra Boopathy, among others.
Speaking to TNM, actor Rohini, who has co-curated this festival, along with artiste Pralayan, says, “This is a people’s theatre festival and so we have theatre plays that the audience can closely relate to. We have 34 theatre groups performing for the festival, including groups from the interior parts of Tamil Nadu. Over 500 theatre artistes will be participating in it.”
The festival will focus on Veedhi Nadakam (street plays) and will highlight the distinctiveness of theatre in South India. “The south has always proved its uniqueness in the country. Even during the recent elections, we showed that we are different from the rest of the state. Our theatre culture, too, is vibrant and unique,” she adds.
Among the theatre groups from Chennai are Pearch, A Mangai’s troupe, Prasanna Ramaswamy’s group, Pralayan’s Chennai Kalai Kuzhu and more.
The festival will honour popular theatre personalities by naming each stage (for the purpose of the festival), where the plays are set to take place, after them. “We have dedicated the main auditorium to Na Muthuswamy of Koothu-P-Pattarai, another stage has been named after veteran star Manorama, the photo exhibit division will be named after writer Gnani and the whole place is being called Girish Karnad Auditorium,” says Rohini.
These stages and venue will be called so for the course of this festival at the Kerala Samaj. The seminar on the morning of October 5, titled Theatre Resistance Democracy, will see AS Panneerselvan (The Hindu’s Reader’s Editor), theatre activist from Kerala Prem Prasath, Vikram Visaji from Karnataka’s Gulbarga, Ratna Sekar Reddy from Hyderabad, Tamil actor Pasupathi, Chennai-based theatre person Hans Koushik, and Puducherry-based danseuse and choreographer Krishna Devanandan in conversation.
From October 3, every morning from 9 am to 10 am, the directors whose plays were presented the previous day will be available for interactions with the audience.
Rohini also adds that while the first edition was held in Thanjavur, this year, the festival has gained more momentum because of its location. “This is a once in two years festival and the last time it took place in Thanjavur. I think since it is Chennai this time, it has reached a lot more people.”
Here are some of the plays you might not want to miss:
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