Stella Maris
College (Autonomous), Chennai
Namma Theatre
Presents
Maunak-Kuram
(Silenced
Prophecies)
13 Septmeber
2012: 7 p.m.
14 & 15
September 2012: 3 p.m. & 7 p.m.
Venue: M 0-1
The
play was produced in 1994 through the efforts of Maunak Kural (Voicing
Silence), a project of M.S. Swaminathan Research Institute. It is being staged
again after a gap of 18 years. The protagonist of this play is a gypsy woman, a
Kurathi, who lives a life which is in consonance with nature and is
self-sufficient. She enjoys a love-life which is egalitarian. From her
perspective, the epic and Puranic heroines Chandramati, Draupadi and Seetha are
women who have lost their sense of identity and have been devalued. The play is
staged in the Indian theatrical tradition – an amalgam of song, dance and
acting – and comes to you with the vigour and energy of Tamil folk forms. A.
Mangai has revived the play which was first directed by Prof Ramanujam.
·
The
chorus explores the context in which male/female and masculine/feminine are
always seen as binaries.
·
The
chorus announces that this is not a rhetorical debate but the story of a
Kurathi from the hills.
·
The
Kuravan enters looking for the Kurathi. He looks for her in the city at the
ration shop, the railway station and the cinema theatre. On his way back to the
forest, he laments about the Kurathi to the grass, rocks, the koel, the monkey
and the river.
·
The
two meet. They get over their lovers’ tiff and are reconciled.
·
The
Kuravan asks her about the new ornaments she is wearing. The Kurathi visualizes
the life of the women whose future she had prophesied – to be sold like
Chandramati was, to be humiliated like Draupadi was, to be pushed into the fire
out of suspicion as Seetha was – such is the terrible life awaiting women!
·
As
the Kurathi and the Kuravan return to the hills, they affirm that, fortunately,
such a tendency to demean women is not found amongst them.
Direction: A
Mangai
Assistant Direction: Nayantara Nayar
No comments:
Post a Comment