Theatre fest...The Hindu reviews the plays...

     

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February 23, 2012

On the stage...Going desi..

Chinmaya Yuva Kendra, Madurai, organized a two-day theatre festival named “Sanskriti”. Two musical dramas, “Bharathi-yar?” and “Surya 108”, were performed, depicting respectively the life of Maha Kavi Subramania Bharathi and worship of Lord Surya, The dramas were staged on February 18th and 19th at Lakshmi Sundaram Hall. Over the years, Chinmaya Mission has organized cultural and devotional programmes and musical dramas and their goal through this theatre festival was to convey a powerful message to the people of Madurai.

“Bharathi-yar?” played for the first time in Madurai, though it has traveled all over the world more than two dozen times. Bharathiar is known as a poet and a freedom fighter. But not much is known about his personal story. The drama opened with Bharathi declaring that it is important to identify oneself as human first. The dialogues were captivating. This play highlighted incidents from Bharathi's life and how boldly he faced them, gradually evolving from a pluralistic outlook to an understanding of the unity of all beings. There were also beautiful dance sequences in the drama. Bharathi came alive on stage and also in the audience's mind, and the effect of so many Bharathis appearing on stage at the end lasted long after the play was over. Many in the audience cried out, “Vande Mataram!” .”

“Surya 108”, a performance about sun worship not just in India but across the globe, combined music, dance, drama and multimedia. The drama began with the 12 steps of surya namaskar. It depicted the eastern and western philosophies, festivals and world cultures based on Lord Surya. The sun is the source of all energy both physical and mental. Invoking the sun and remembering his brilliance will help a person to become brilliant. This vision was translated into physical reality in an inspiring way. The drama explored the importance of the Gayathri mantra and also the threat of global warming.

The audience also learned scientific facts, for instance, that a string of 108 small suns can fit between the earth and the sun. The performance was a fusion of traditional and modern, leaving the audience impressed.

POOJA.V

(Pooja is a student of Journalism at Madurai Kamaraj University)