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Please check out the following posts 

1.

A Power Packed Performance with a Message, Nizam Telisindi Play at Nandi Natakotsavam

2.

A Village that Breathes Acting

3.

‘It’s easier to censor theatre’

4.

Theatre design: A neglected element

Tamil Stage Drama Producers Association

For a level play field

S. Shivpprasadh

FORUM About the association drama producers have formed.

The news of the formation of Tamil Stage Drama Producers Association prompted this writer, an avid follower of the Tamil drama scene, to delve into the background. T.V. Varadharajen, actor who runs United Visuals and played a significant role in the venture, was only too willing to share his views. He had just returned to Chennai after staging two of his plays in Karur.

Before listening to Varadharajen, a brief look into the past would be in order. The doyen of the Tamil theatre, the late R.S. Manohar, never approved of the term ‘amateur.’ There are professionals and non-professionals, he would say. They all shared the same commitment and passion, he argued. Tamil theatre has indeed seen artists, for whom applause is the best reward. Tamil theatre, during the 1960s, Seventies and early Eighties, was dominated by great artists and writers such as the TKS Brothers, R.S. Manohar, S.V. Sahasranamam, K. Balachander, Sivaji Ganesan, Major Sundararajan, V.S. Raghavan, Nagesh, Poornam Viswanathan, Marina, Y.G. Parthasarathy, Cho, Visu and Mouli. The legacy is continued even now by Kathadi Ramamurthy, Y.G. Mahendra, S.Ve. Shekher, Crazy Mohan, T.V.Varadharajen.

The Sabha system worked out very well for troupes in those days, giving them a readymade elite audience. Any good play would see 100 shows comfortably in four or five months. Major auditoriums booked well in advance where Sir Rajah Annamalai Mandram, Music Academy, Sri Parthasarathy Swamy sabha, R.R. Sabha, Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Vani Mahal, Kalaivanar Arangam (booking of this auditorium ran the risk of last minute cancellation in the event of a Government function). There were several small halls too.

The number of troupes has gone down these days. Television and a change in lifestyle seem to be the main reason. Though there are 40 troupes, there are only eight sabha halls available.

Avenues outside Chennai in Tamil Nadu in those days were Tiruchi, Madurai, Sivakasi, Tirunelveli, Erode, Salem, Coimbatore, Vellore, Pollachi, Tirupur and Udamalpet. Inauguration of a new play would find these troupes leaving Madras on a Saturday and returning after a tour of all the centres mentioned above. Bangalore, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Cochin, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi were places outside Tamil Nadu. Now Trivandrum and Cochin are not on the map at all.

“Artists have found the situation depressing – less shows, little income,” says Varadharajen. Whatever is earned is ploughed back into the play for sets, light and mike, music and payment to lady artists. That leaves little or nothing for the male artists.

Mylapore Fine Arts Club – 9th Year Drama Festival

Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Chennai will be conducting their 9th Year Drama Festival (2011) from 13.8.2011 to 17.8.2011 at Mylapore Fine Arts Club Auditorium, Musiri Subramaniam Road (next to St, Isabel hospital).

 

On the inaugural day of the festival, Mr. Y.Gee. Mahendra will be conferred “Nataka Kala Nipuna” Award for his contribution to tamil theatre.  Cine Director/Actor/Producer, Cheran will confer the award on Mr. Y.Gee Mahendra and Veteran Actor Shri. V.S. Raghavan will felicitate.  The inauruation of the festival and conferment of Award will be at 6.00 pm on Saturday 13th August 2011.

 

Drama schedule:

 

13.8.2011 – 6.45 pm

UAA presents, Y.Gee Mahendra in “NADAGAM” by Chithralaya Sriram

 

14.8.2011 – 6.45 pm

Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group’s, “SAASWATHAM” by Bombay Gnanam

 

15.8.2011   – 6.45 pm

Railpriya’s, “NAYYANDI VILAS” by Ananthu

 

16.8.2011 – 6.45 pm

Gurukulam presents, “NAARKALIKKU IDAMILLAI” by MB Murthy

 

17.8.2011  –  6.45 pm

Sowmya presents, “KARUPPU AADUGAL” by TV Radhakrishnan

 

For details: 044-24997755

 

 

Mylapore Academy Stage Play Awards 2010

Mylapore Academy has announced the Award Winners for the Stage plays inaugurated during 2010.  The Award presentation will be held on 20th August 2011 at 6.15 pm at Narada Gana Sabha Hall, Alwarpet, Chennai:

THE MYLAPORE ACADEMY (Regd)

9/21, Sringeri Math Road, R A Puram, Chennai 600 028 Phones: 24939352/24642263/24345474

DRAMA AWARDS – STAGE PLAYS – 2010 ‘ BESTS ’

1 Dr T S Doraiswamy Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Stage Play: Priyamudan Appa (Mother Creations)

2 Kalki Fine Arts Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Story Writer: V Sreevathson (Ardhanari)

3 Haji Chank Adbul Khader Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Director: Venkat (Edhir parathathu)

4 E S Mydeen silver Rolling Trophy for Best Actor: T D Sundarrajan (Priyamudhan Appa & Edhir paratathu)

V P S Sriraman (Yadhumagi Nindrai)

5 Dr Lakshmi Chaturvedi Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Actress: Nithya Sethuraman (Ardhanari)

Usha Ravichandran (Neradi Oliparappu)

6 Award for Supporting Actor: Telephone Venkatraman (Neradi Oliparappu)

7 Award for Supporting Actress: Parimalam (Om Siva Sakthi)

8 S Ve Shekar Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Comedy Play: Neenga Yaar Pakkam (Stage Creations)

9 S Viswanathan Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Comic Actor: Swayam Prakash (Neradi Oliparappu)

10 Parasamul Lodha Silver Rolling Trophy for Child Artiste: SANTHOSH BALAJI (Om Siva Sakthi)

11 Award for Best Character Actor: M B Moorthy (Yadhumagi Nindrai)

Syed Dasdagir (Neradi Oliparappu)

12 Award for Best Character Actress: R Jayanthi (Yadhumagi Nindrai)

13 S Viswanathan Silver Rolling Trophy for Best A C Auditorium: Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha, Chennai

14 Award for Best Non Air Conditioned Auditorium: Infosys Hall, Chennai

15 Award for Best Sabha for promotion of fine arts(Own Auditorium): The Mylapore Fine Arts Club, Chennai

16 Narada Gana Sabha Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Sabha (hired Hall): Kalarasana, Chennai

17 Award for Best Sabha in Mofussil Centre: Kala Sagar, Hyderabad

18 Y G P Silver Rolling Trophy for Play with thematic content: Om Siva Sakthi (Thamizharasan Theatres)

20 Nataka Rasika Silver Rolling Trophy for Play (Contribution to Stage): Pavithraa (Goodwill Stage)

21 Roll Of Honour for Contribution to Tamil Stage: V S Srinivasan (Kala Nilayam)

K V Veeraraghavan (Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha)

Nadaga Pannai Arunagiri

Technician: Kumar (Vaani Mahal)

Volunteers : Varadarajan (Karthik Fine Arts)

Gopalakrishnan (MFAC)

22 S Ve Shekher Silver Rolling Trophy for All Rounder: S L Naanu (Neenga Yaar Pakkam)

23 P V Narasimha Rao Silver Rolling Trophy for Contribution to Stage: Nagarajan (VNS Theatres)

24 Rajiv Gandhi Silver Rolling Trophy for Contribution to Fine Arts: Kovai Padhu (Good Will Stage)

25 Honour for Veteran Secretary/ Officer Bearer of City Sabha: N Ethirajan (Mylapore Arts Academy)

26. Sri Parthasarathi Swamy Sabha silver rolling Trophy for          Koothapiran

Life Time Achievement Award

27. Award for Music Director for Tamil Stage Play Guha Prasath

28. R S Manohar Silver Rolling Trophy for Mythological Play Thirunavukkarasar (Kalai Koodam)

29. R S Manohar Silver Rolling Trophy for Best Actor in Mytholgical Play:Master Sridhar (Thirunavukkarasar)

PANEL OF JUDGES:

Justice N V Balasubramaniam, Chairman,

R Krishnaswami, P S Padmanabhan, M Krishnamurthi, S Ravichandran, S V S Mani and Suriyanarayanan K J

Drama Reviews – “ARDHA NARI”

Drama Review sent by a theatre lover for the play “Ardha Nari” by Srivathson presented by Dummies Drama, Chennai during Summer Drama Festival at Chennai:

ARDHA NARI  –  Drama Review by M.V. Vijayakumar

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus is the metaphor, John Gray used as title in his book 20 years back to explore man-woman relationship.

Dummies, “Ardha Nari” presents a different perspective.

Man-woman relationship, particularly Husband and Wife relationship is more complex and a subject matter of extensive and intensive research.  Both sociological and psychological factors have influence on this deep yet delicate relationship.  In-laws are no more the only villains of peace.  The arrival of educated emancipated globetrotting  middle class women has altered the rules of the game disturbing the traditional equilibrium.  Husband is no more the Boss, not even the first among equals.  Parity in everything is the new norm.  Impulsive matrimony and instant divorce is a style statement.

Through their new play, “Ardha Nari” Dummies presents the synthesis of masculine power and feminine energy.  Srivatsan is right when he says, “Ardha Nari is not just a metaphor”.

Srivatsan is adept in dovetailing the main concept with fine screenplay, punch dialogues, imaginative characterization.  He has good vocabulary and a corresponding sensitivity to nuance.  This play also conforms to their benchmark.

The concept is contemporary.  Screenplay well structured.  Dialogues well timed, contextual and expository.  Srivatsan’s dialogues about ardha nari concept and its relevance for today’s warring couples is expository and highlights his conviction.

Appa Sridhar with his random one-liners impresses.  Star of this play is the effervescent anusha epitomizing the globe trotting educated middle class girl of new India – Awesome.  Certainly Nithya is the best new find of the season.  Krishna is talented and rightly in dummies camp.  Prema as Lawyer/counsel does a nice job.

Dummies never disappoint, yet something is missing – yes where is Giri?

Prize Distribution function – Summer Drama Festival

Best Director Award for C.V. Chandramohan

The prize distribution function of this year’s Summer Drama Festival of Kartik Fine Arts, Chennai was held on 1st June 2010 at Narada Gana Sabha Main Hall.

Cash Prizes and Rolling trophies were haned over to the winners in various categories such as Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Play, Best Director, Best playwright etc. as published in this blog earlier.

The function was presided over by Shri. L. Sabaretnam, Director Chennai Petroleum Corpn. Ltd. and Advisor – India Cements Ltd.

Shri. Chandru, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Dr. Nalli Kuppuswamy chetti were Guests of Honour. Smt. Bombay Gnanam and Shri. S.Ve. Shekher felicitated the award winners.

The function was followed by Sowmya Theatre’s “Bharath Rathna” by T.V. Radhakrishnan.

Reminiscences of Tamil Stage

These twelve examples of early drama broadsheets are made available for viewing here, in a larger format than appears in the printed book, by kind permission of the Roja Muthiah Research Library collection, Chennai, India. The paper on which these advertisements are printed is often of the lowest quality, intended only for brief usage. The remarkable preservation of such early examples of notices allow us to trace their gradual development into the standard form of the Special Drama notice today. From the mid-1960s to the present, that form has stabilized as an 8.5 x 11 single sheet anchored visually by artists’ plates in the four corners and center, dramatic roles on top and comedy roles at bottom. This hierarchical arrangement of artistic roles on the notices corresponds to the prestige accorded these artistic roles on stage.

Here is the First Three.. Keep Watching this gallery for more..

Drama notice for Alli Rani, with English words, 1917

Mr. S. G. Kittappa as Sri Andaal in Sri Andaal’s Wedding; horizontal layout, 1928

Drama notice for Kovilavan Natakam, 1917

Drama notice, 1891

Drama notice for Valli’s Wedding, 1918(?)

Drama notice for Rajendran Natakam “with artists trained by T.T. Sankaradas Swamigal,” 1926

Madras drama notice for Kovalan; vertical with plates and English text

Drama notice for Valli’s Wedding, announcing “Special Actors! Special Dramas!!” in a horizontal layout with Harmonist plate at center, 1928

Drama notice for Valli’s Wedding announced as a “Special Drama,” 1931

Drama notice for Pavalakodi, horizontal layout with multiple plates, including images of comic actors, in English and Tamil, 1936

Drama notice for Sangeetha Kovalan drama, picturing a female comic actor and other artists known to the author, 1942

Film ad for Savithiri featuring several of the same artists as in above drama notice, 1942

Drama notice for Tamil Arasi [Queen of Tamil], 1964

Word Theater Day – March 27

Do you know ?

‘Major Chandrakanth’, an immensely popular film which won actor Sunderrajan the title Major, was originally an English play by K Balachandar, which later was reworked to be made in Tamil. Though rights were acquired by AVM to film it, the play was first released as a movie only in Bollywood, as ‘Oonche Log’.

It’s World Theatre Day on March 27 and to Tamil Nadu, it is as much a celebration of cinema as it is of theatre. Cinema today may have evolved a lot, but we still owe a lot to the stage, whose forms our films still adopt, be it in the song and dance format or the utilization of many characters in one plot.

That the oldest and most legendary actors of Tamil cinema have had their roots in theatre, from MK Bhagavathar to Sivaji Ganesan and MGR, only shows how dependent we have been on theatre.

That many actors of today, like Pasupathy, Sayaji Shinde, Atul Kulkarni and Prakash Raj, have also branched from theatre only reinstates the medium’s importance. Other popular actors who learnt their basics of acting on stage include Manorama, Nagesh, Kamal Haasan, Sowcar Janaki, Poornam Viswanathan, Cho, Srikanth, Muthuraman and Kathadi Ramamurthy. Playwrights and directors like K Balachandar, Mouli, Visu, S Vee Shekher and Crazy Mohan also hail from the stage.

Bring Children To Watch Plays

Published in Express Buzz, 26 March 2009

“Please bring children along with you to watch plays,” is the message from the playwright Raadhu for World Theatre Day.

Raadhu started writing plays from 1962 and has written 46 plays for various troupes. “I’m an ardent lover of dramas. My first play was Jayam Namadae. That was the time of Indo-Chinese war and it was to raise funds for it,” says Raadhu. After joining in Young Men’s Indian Association’s fine arts wing, Raadhu acted as well as produced plays. He started Mayan Theatres in 1974, which has staged more than 4,000 plays in India and abroad. Raadhu on a single day staged Kalyanathil Galatta, a comedy play for seven times in 1988. “The play got me a good recognition,” says Raadhu. He was instrumental in reviving daily theatre in Chennai and his play Ithu Enrum Thodarum was staged for 100 days continuously in a single venue. “Last year I staged my play Kettalae Athuruthula. It’s about section 498(A). If you’re doing serious plays you need committed artistes and it has come down. There’s also a need for female artistes, but we don’t have enough of them,” explains Raadhu, who is also the founder of Nataka Academy, an institution that promotes theatre in Chennai since 1992. According to him, genuine drama lovers have migrated to suburban areas where it is inconvenient to stage plays. “I’m writing a script for actor Radha Ravi and also for another troupe,” informs Raadhu, who in his 46 year career have written 46 dramas. “My mother used to take me to dramas and that’s how I got interested in plays. Parents should encourage children and should bring them along to watch plays,” adds Raadhu.

Hamsadhwani Honours Drama Veteran

Hamsadhwani, Chennai is presenting a purse of Rs.10,000/- to M.G. Murugan, a legendary drama actor in recognition of his immense contribution to Tamil theatre. Director Venkat will be the guest of honour and handing over the purse to Mr. M.G. Murugan on 31st January 2010 at 6.00 pm at Youth Hostel, Indiranagar, Adyar, Chennai.