CHENNAI: Lovers of witty dialogues and Tamil plays who wish to witness new performances and fresh faces, are in for some treat this Friday. Theatre of Maham, a Tamil theatre group, is conducting ‘on stage’ – a Tamil theatre competition — the winner of which will receive a rolling shield in the name of K Balachander, the veteran director.
Five theatre groups – Theatre Nisha, Fab’s Theatre, MacTrics, Synergia and Saaral koothu Pattarai — will be performing a play for half-an-hour each at The Egmore Museum Theatre. “These are the finalists selected from 22 teams that enrolled. It is good to find such a healthy response for this competition, which is being conducted for the first time to promote Tamil Theatre. Apart from Crazy Mohan and S Ve Shekhar’s groups, there are many performers, but not as many avenues for them to perform. So, Theatre of Maham’s idea of promoting good Tamil Theatre made this happen,” says A Baby Charles, its co-ordinator
Judged by a panel that includes Y Gee Mahendra, the groups will perform on a variety of genres. According to Charles, Theatre Nisha’s play titled Kadhai Solla Porom, will be a monologue of a person who wants to find romance in life. Fab’s Theatre’s play, titled Seethai Mark Seeyakaithool, will explore the biography of a painter, while Synergia promises to present a laughter riot with a political comedy titled Thamizhukku Tha and Saaral Koothu Pattarai, the theatre group from SRM Group of Institutions, will present a comedy on inter-religious weddings in its play Galatta Sambandham. There will also be another play titled Suicide Club, by MacTrics, that will explore what makes a person commit suicide.
Awards for best actor, actress and script from among the finalists will be given.