CHENNAI: American actress and acting teacher, Stella Adler, once said, “The word theatre comes from the Greeks, which means ‘the seeing place’. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation.”
Staging real-life narratives on how one treats a slave and sending a social message that everybody is powerful but the use of it changes, is the play ‘Pattanathil Bhootham’ by Sathya Sai Creations. With this play, the 33rd Kodai Nataka Vizha by Kartik Fine Arts was inaugurated at the Narada Gana Sabha on Monday.
This annual vizha is a 12-day celebration of theatre. Each day a unique act is presented by different Tamil theatre troupes. At the inauguration, Ramkumar Ganesan, owner of Shivaji Productions and the event’s guest of honour, presented an AV on ‘Shri Sivaji Ganesan and Theatre’. It included scenes from various stage dramas that Sivaji Ganesan was part of to inspire upcoming artistes in the industry.
The past and the present
Ramkumar spoke on how the late actor’s acting career began on stage at the age of 10. Sharing an anecdote, he said, “We were watching a Hollywood movie starring Anthony Hopkins. By looking at him, my father said “he is a theatre actor”. His acting knowledge was fine.” He pointed out that in Western countries, actors from mainstream cinema take a break and act on Broadway to upskill themselves.
Concurring the thought, Kalanilayam Chandru said, “Yes, cine actors should come to the stage because with them comes exposure and a new set of audience.” Chandru is an 80-year-old theatre artiste who still wants to continue performing on stage after retirement. He said, “When the audience claps, it is a reward and an acknowledgement for what we do on stage. It shows that the viewers relate to our acting and we hope it stays with them.”
“There are very few movies that leave an impact, but theatre never disappoints. Each performance leaves an everlasting impact and delivers a social message to the onlookers,” said ESL Narasimhan, former governor of Telangana, addressing the audience seated at the Sathguru Gnanananda Hall, as the chief guest of the evening.
He differentiated cinema from theatre and noted the importance of the latter. “We act in cinema, but we play a role in theatre. In cinema, you have makeup but in theatre, you make up for others. When others back out due to uncertain circumstances, artistes fill in others’ roles,” he said.
Theatre is forever
Theatre is the art form of the present; it exists only in the present. “We cannot say that theatre is dying. Vizhas like this give us an opportunity and a platform to exhibit our work and ourselves,” said Chandra Mohan, writer and director of theatre plays. He also pointed out that a younger audience should come in so that the reach is more. “We have budding young artistes in troupes but we would also see them sitting in the audience,” he added.
To attract younger viewers, Kartik Fine Arts is taking to technology. The sabha is active on social media platforms. “We have reached out to various educational campuses such as IIT Madras, Omega school and others so that the children are exposed to different art forms,” said SN Srikanth, president of Kartik Fine Arts.
Additionally, the sabha is creating an ecosystem where artistes can pursue dance, drama and music full-time professionally and take it to the next step. “The upcoming artistes are very interested in art forms and we want to fuel it,” he added. Once the vizha ends, awards for best play, best actor, best actress, and best child artiste, and prizes for best reviews on each play will be given on Award Distribution Day, June 1.
Kodai Nataka Vizha is on till May 3 at Narada Gana Sabha at 7 pm. Entry free.