Tamil theatre’s new voice: Chennai audiences cheer for recent concepts and new faces

Centrestage, underneath the highlight, sits a corpse. 

It’s not shrouded in white material, although. As an alternative, there are rings and gold chains, a suave pair of sun shades and an sometimes toothy grin. Uncommon? Sure. Humorous? The Saturday afternoon viewers actually thought so, on condition that they roared with laughter for all the 10 minutes of Sethum Jaichidichu Meesai, staged on the lately concluded Quick + Candy South India 2022. 

The ten-minute play traces an exasperated son’s relationship along with his self-centered father by means of a non-linear monologue in Tamil, hours after the daddy’s passing. It went on to win Finest Manufacturing, Finest Script and Finest Actor (Male) awards on the competition. Equally, Jayachandran of Tamil group Kael Theatre gained Finest Director, for the hard-hitting, impeccably timed, Iruvar, an examination of the P Jayaraj-Bennix custodial loss of life case.   

A nonetheless from Sethum Jaichidichu Meesai on the lately concluded Quick + Candy Theatre Pageant 2022
| Picture Credit score:
Mohan Das Vadakara

Living proof: up to date Tamil theatre in Chennai is having its second within the solar.  

It’s present process a makeover within the palms of younger theatre teams and people, all of whom are experimenting with type, themes, dialect and dramaturgy, whereas protecting the sentiment of the language at its core. By shifting away from conventional and people codecs to embrace up to date themes, additionally it is reaching out to a youthful, city viewers. 

Vijay Babu and his 69-year-old father Hari Babu, a former Nationwide-level boxing champion, who play the son and father in Sethum Jeichidichu… respectively, have been gathering followers ever since their first run. Vijay, who additionally wrote the script with first-time director Thiravia Sankar, has not carried out a lot exterior of the Quick + Candy competition through the years. He calls himself a “run-of-the-mill man” who discovered himself by means of theatre in 2015. His father, Hari, alternatively has no stage expertise in any respect.

They’re among the many burgeoning crop of promising administrators, writers and actors who’re rewriting how the viewers perceives the medium. “With avenues like Quick + Candy, there are larger alternatives for individuals like us to carry out. There may be area to evolve. I’m nonetheless within the studying stage,” says Vijay.   

A nonetheless from Iruvar
| Picture Credit score:
Mohan Das Vadakara

Function fashions stand tall

“The primary time we noticed naveena natakam was by Na Muthuswamy sir. He introduced within the novel concept that Tamil theatre may be finished in a up to date approach,” says B Charles, mild designer and member of Chennai Artwork Theatre who can be one of many founders of the black field, Medai – The Stage, in Alwarpet. It was matched by veterans like Prasanna Ramasamy and A Mangai who checked out radical, and necessary themes inside the milieu of regional theatre. He provides, “Muruga Bhoopathy and teams like Perch and Koothu Pattarai took it to a world degree.” The present crop, or atleast many of the administrators and writers who experiment, come from comparable colleges that boast years of expertise on stage. 

Vetri of Theatre Akku which fashioned in 2017 comes from Koumarane Valavane’s Puducherry-based Indianostrum Theatre. “Once I got here to Chennai from a strict schedule at Indianostrum, I felt empty. I began observing different teams’ rehearsals: each established and novice,” he says. Their first play, Adavu, derives from a therukoothu artist’s life, an inspiration that struck Vetri whereas observing the work of Purisai Therukoothu helmed by Kannappa Thambiran in Purisai. It went on to play 26 reveals.

For the ages

Conventional tamil theatre has deep roots within the metropolis. The late nineteenth and early twentieth Century was the interval of nice progress — from people arts teams changing into organised troupes; to the rise of sabha performs that predominantly ran non secular and epic performs primarily based on The Mahabharatha and The Ramayana, and of doyens like Sankaradas Swamigal, Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar and extra lately S Murugabhoopathy, Na Muthuswamy.

As a up to date group, Akku doesn’t observe the standard tenets of devising a efficiency. What begins as a dialogue amongst actors, are improvised, to type a unfastened construction. Komaligal ( a four-play anthology in Tamil that appears at sexual oppression and abuse of girls by drawing inferences for actual incidents) , which has been touring since 2020, is testomony to this course of. 

“Because of the digital age, a sure sense of expectation is now utilized to theatre as effectively. We’ve to match these expectations. Solely then can we get an everyday viewers,” says Vetri.

Being up to date will not be solely restricted to the content material. The best way during which it’s executed issues. Collaborations with different current teams would additionally result in the creation of latest codecs, says Vetri. “Artwork is supposed to be democratic. If theatre can attain the individuals, nothing prefer it. This is able to even imply placing up non-public reveals for a bunch of fifty or 75 individuals in a neighborhood corridor,” says Vetri. Komaligal has travelled to colleges, public areas, orphanages, detention centres and different unconventional phases, to achieve audiences who don’t have entry to theatre.     

Accessible areas

Whereas curating, for each six performs at Medai, Charles makes certain that a minimum of two to 3 performs are in Tamil. “The quick performs often come from native writers, and positively there’s a larger reference to the viewers as effectively,” says Charles. This yr, the sheer variety of new Tamil performs hosted within the area was extra. “We hosted round 12 Tamil performs in Medai, all of which have been helmed by younger writers and administrators,” he provides.  

The truth that mainstream phases within the metropolis usually are not accessible is partly answerable for the beginning of Idam, a brand new efficiency/workshop area by Theatre Akku, admits Vetri. From a business standpoint, renting a mainstream stage, like say, Egmore Museum Theatre is unthinkable for an up and coming group, says Vetri. “Even after we promote tickets, we attempt to hold it economical and accessible. So, we’d not meet the revenue margin on a regular basis.”

Idam, which is but to formally launch, is a small, theatrical area. With a bookshelf, murals and seats that fold into the partitions, the area is supposed for any type of workshops, performances and even rehearsals.    

A nonetheless from the play Dhik Dhik
| Picture Credit score:
R. Pradeep

New audiences are searching for renewed visible experiences, a deviation from the sabha tradition that relied closely on the written phrase. Within the digital age, the manufacturing high quality of a play invariably comes underneath scrutiny: from performing, units, lights to costumes, all the things is underneath the scanner. “Even when you don’t have an distinctive set, one thing new must be on supply,” says Vetri, including that it’s necessary to draw new audiences. 

“Aside from the already current theatre neighborhood within the metropolis, audiences are actually searching for good Tamil up to date performs. In 100 individuals, a minimum of 80 individuals come for the content material and the language,” says Charles. The thought is to interrupt into the area of interest, and develop the neighborhood, fairly than it as a sub neighborhood.  “Even inside Tamil theatre, there appears to be a spot between conventional or people types and up to date. If these two worlds can mix and convey out a brand new model, it will likely be very fascinating to see,” says Vijay.

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