Myriad treats for the theatre lover

National Children’s Theatre Fest, organised by the 47-year-old children’s theatre village, in the city, starts today

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: National Children’s Theatre Fest organised by the 47-year-old children’s theatre village in the city, starts today. Minister for Devoswam, Tourism and Corporation Kadakampally Surendran will inaugurate the event at the theatre complex, Venjaramoodu. The first play to be staged will be ‘Poovan Kozhi Muttayittu’, a satirical skit directed by Alinthara G Krishna Pillai, Rangaprabhath. 

A speech on Children’s Theatre by R B Rajalakshmi will be held on the second day, after which the Uthiri Theatre Land, Thanjavur, will present the English or Tamil play ‘River of Butterflies’. Gireesh Sopanam will give a speech on ‘Theatre and Natya Dharmi’ on the third day. An English skit, ‘The Exchange Student’ will be staged by the Mumbai-based theatre group Tpot Production. Intellectual Children’s Theatre, Kottarakara, and Kozhikode-based Pookkad Kalalayam will showcase their Malayalam plays ‘Marupattu’ and ‘Kittapuranam’ respectively on day 4, after a speech on Modern Malayalam Theatre by Aliyar. 

A speech on ‘Amateur Theatre’ by Raja Varier will precede a skit ‘Koodumattam’, by Navayug, a theatre group based in Kottayam. This will be followed by a Telugu play ‘Where in Childhood’ presented by a Hyderabad-based group. A Hindi play ‘Lalach Buri Bala’ by Children’s Theatre Akademi, Bhopal.   
The closing ceremony of the festival and the 10th commemoration of K Kochunarayana Pillai will be inaugurated by M P A Sampath on Sunday at 6.30 pm. The event will come to a close with the play ‘Kunjunniyude Yathra Pusthakom’ by Rangaprabhath.

‘Kunjunniyude Yathra Pusthakom’ (The traveling book of Kunjunni), a dramatic adaptation of a novel written by S R Lal, who won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi award for child literature, revolves around Kunjunni, the central character of the play. The story starts in the latter half of the 17th century when a treasure is buried under a hilly area named Mani Mala Kunnu by the rulers of Travancore anticipating an attack from Tipu Sultan. Kunjunni comes to know about this treasure and tries to retrieve it. The play is all about Kunjunni’s quest in search of this treasure. Directed by Asok Sasi, ‘Kunjunniyude Yathra Pusthakom’ pinpoints the fact that greed for money and power is the real menace to the society.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com