A complex medley
22 Jan 2013 4:34 AM IST
The weekend at National School of Drama was a mixed bag of historical, mythological fables and the tale of women who dared. Plays like Anecdotes and Allegories by Gulbadan Begum, Shivarathri, The Last Tale and Soorppanangu took the audience on a dream ride.
Anecdotes and Allegories by Gulbadan Begum, directed by Anurupa Roy and presented by Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust explored the life of Gulbadan Begum, who happened to be emperor Akbar’s aunt, Humayun’s half sister and Babar’s daughter, thus having seen three great Mughal rulers.
The one and a half hour journey traversed through her writings and representations and showed the three Mughal emperors using three techniques — miniature puppets and live feed, shadow puppetry and lastly paper theatre. Shivarathri, directed by Chidambararao Jambe and presented by Niranthara Foundation from Mysore, on the other hand was a play centered on Lord Shiva and his devotion.
It began with Mugda Sangaiah searching for the house of a sex worker, Savantri. It gathered momentum with the entry of King Bijjala in Savantri’s house seeking Kamakshi’s company. The theft of an expensive pearl necklace from Bijjala’s palace and its subsequent presence in Savantri’s house and their dialogue on Sharana philosophy and Bijjala’s blunders are what the play dealt with.
The Last Tale, directed by Dr Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry and presented Chandigarh-based The Company, was in Punjabi. It was set in a funeral ground where time and space are frozen, and secrets and social antagonisms are unraveled. The story revolved around Behaag, a rebelious girl who married Udav against her parents wish. Three days after they get married, Udav murders her and later kills himself owing to some dire circumstances.
Lastly, Soorppanangu directed by S. Murugaboopathy and presented by Manalmagudi, Thoothukudi, from Tamil Nadu, centered on the old myth of Nallathangal and her collective suicide along with her seven daughters.
The Tamil play focused on seven stories of female suffering and resistance in myth, folktales, literature and history, old as well as contemporary. In make-up, costume, props, music, interchanging forms and dialogue, the performance questions gender as well as establishes connections between all living forms, emphasising the resisting and nurturing female as a final transformation.
Anecdotes and Allegories by Gulbadan Begum, directed by Anurupa Roy and presented by Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust explored the life of Gulbadan Begum, who happened to be emperor Akbar’s aunt, Humayun’s half sister and Babar’s daughter, thus having seen three great Mughal rulers.
The one and a half hour journey traversed through her writings and representations and showed the three Mughal emperors using three techniques — miniature puppets and live feed, shadow puppetry and lastly paper theatre. Shivarathri, directed by Chidambararao Jambe and presented by Niranthara Foundation from Mysore, on the other hand was a play centered on Lord Shiva and his devotion.
It began with Mugda Sangaiah searching for the house of a sex worker, Savantri. It gathered momentum with the entry of King Bijjala in Savantri’s house seeking Kamakshi’s company. The theft of an expensive pearl necklace from Bijjala’s palace and its subsequent presence in Savantri’s house and their dialogue on Sharana philosophy and Bijjala’s blunders are what the play dealt with.
The Last Tale, directed by Dr Neelam Man Singh Chowdhry and presented Chandigarh-based The Company, was in Punjabi. It was set in a funeral ground where time and space are frozen, and secrets and social antagonisms are unraveled. The story revolved around Behaag, a rebelious girl who married Udav against her parents wish. Three days after they get married, Udav murders her and later kills himself owing to some dire circumstances.
Lastly, Soorppanangu directed by S. Murugaboopathy and presented by Manalmagudi, Thoothukudi, from Tamil Nadu, centered on the old myth of Nallathangal and her collective suicide along with her seven daughters.
The Tamil play focused on seven stories of female suffering and resistance in myth, folktales, literature and history, old as well as contemporary. In make-up, costume, props, music, interchanging forms and dialogue, the performance questions gender as well as establishes connections between all living forms, emphasising the resisting and nurturing female as a final transformation.
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