KOZHIKODE: Theatre has been the life and soul of Manoj Narayanan and it is this commitment to the field that earned him the best director award of the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi for the fourth consecutive time this year. And to him, who considers recognitions for the totality of play as more valuable, the year was further important as the play, ‘Pranayasagaram,’ directed by him bagged seven awards, including the best play of the year.
“The recognitions for the play are the result of team work and coordination. A theatrical adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel ‘Anna Karenina,’ the play, written by Suresh Babu Sreestha, is set in a plot in a Kalakshetra in Kerala. Various art forms like Mohiniyattom, Kathakali, Tholpavakoothu, etc. have been used in it and the good performance was the result of the hard work of everyone behind it. From using pure Kathakali music for it, the actors even learnt art forms like Tholpavakkoothu for the performance,” says Manoj Narayanan.
A full-time theatre worker for over 20 years, Manoj, a native of Villyappilly in Vadakara, is more of a children’s theatre promoter, which he considers as a platform to instill positive changes in children.
“Apart from the 30-hour-long competition plays with seven actors, I concentrate more on plays in which every child can participate and I believe making every child involved in theatre as the aim of the genre. A little exposure to theatre can help develop memory, concentration and the imagination of children and I often try to include more children in the plays. Plays like ‘Toto Chan’, ‘Malayalam Kanan Vayo’ and ‘Keralapperuma’ were designed to incorporate around 200 to 250 students. Other plays like ‘Hai Ajasundari’, ‘Bhoomikkoru Snehageetham’ and ‘Oru Maramuthassikkatha’ also have a large number of characters,” he says.
He has also been working for promoting theatre as a tool for education and is a constant figure in theatre camps in schools as well as in campus theatres. He has made around 150 children’s plays, besides directing around 75 amateur plays and 50 professional dramas.
Starting with the 2005 Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award for the best children’s play director for his work ‘Daridravasi,’ numerous awards from the akademi came to him. His plays, ‘Karinkurangu’, ‘Kadathanattamma,’ ‘Thacholi Othenan,’ ‘Nellu,’ ‘Perunthachan,’ ‘Varthamanathilekkoru Kannaki’ and ‘Kuriyedathu Thathri’ are the other plays that received either the best play or the best director awards of the akademi.
Involved in theatre from his schooling, Manoj considers his works with amateur theatres in villages as his most memorable theatre experience. “The amateur theatre, a powerful theatre, then used to bring the village as a whole and intervene in a number of social issues. It was a big collective that dealt with all the major issues of the village,” recollects Manoj.
Manoj is not against experimenting with theatre, but is of the opinion that the forms adopted should communicate to the audience. “I also go for certain experiments in my works, but have not tried out a full-length experimental drama,” he points out.