CHENNAI :Behind the sole motive to keep Tamil theatre alive is Icarr Weeoui’s burning passion and reverence for the art form. This playwright and director is the brainchild of his production house Shree Thayar Kalai Koodam, started in 2010. A chemical engineer by profession, Icarr, pen name of Chidambara Anantha Raja, chose to pursue his passion for dance and theatre. He has acted in several plays for 17 years now. “After my guru Shri Manjai V Somu passed away in early 2011, I decided to stand on my feet. My production house started out with 15 members.
Now we have 30. Every day we spend three to four hours for rehearsals,” says Icarr who is originally from Tuticorin but currently lives in Chennai.The production house has staged five plays so far in different parts of the city and Bengaluru. The first one Naachiappan Tharpar was about the life of comedians. The second play written by his late guru, Veera Vaanchinathar, is about a freedom fighter. The third production is Payanam. “Every day somebody young used to die in a slum behind my house.
It made me ponder a lot over the value of life. I wanted people to realise that every human has a soul inside and is born with a purpose. This is the crux of Payanam,” he says adding that it is a science fiction. Reluctant to reveal the premise, Icarr promises the play is peppered with gripping suspense, and has a unique takeaway at the end. Their fourth play Vinai explores social issues and karma and the fifth drama is Puthiyana Pukuthalum.
His team and he also take part in sabha plays. “It is quite common that people listen only when the story is conveyed in a commercial way. But the core of my stories will address social issues,” says Icarr, adding that there is no class system to buy tickets. “It is a donation that people give for our work and this is the ideology we follow. All are same, no caste or gender division.”
Icarr feels that contemporary and modern theatre has been constantly evolving. He believes that the regional language theatre as a profession, and the artists have also received better respect and recognition in other cities unlike ours. “Artists face so many obstacles both emotionally and financially. It is very hard to earn a name and recognition in this field. Our own Tamil magazines support only the affluent troops and people like us hardly get any spotlight,” he shares.
Icarr owes his gratitude to his late guru and his Science teacher. “Science has played a crucial role in my ideas. People might not realise it while watching but towards the end they will establish a connection. This generation does not want to just laugh out, they expect thought-provoking scripts. The crowd for our performances has been consistent,” he says. The director is already working on his next script on The last days of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. He plans to complete the work in a year.
‘Payanam’ will be staged on May 26 at Backyard