CHENNAI: The air was filled with intense emotions, deep thoughts, and various reactions and expressions as the curtains gradually rolled down. The series of acts, adapted from the short stories written by the celebrated Tamil writer R Chudamani, exuded a large sense of resonance among audience.
These praises were for the outstanding actors from The Madras Players — the city’s oldest English Language theatre group. They staged a show titled Chudamani in 2016. The stories were adapted by Nikhila Kesavan, and directed by PC Ramakrishna. Following this, Chudamani drew crowds at various centres including a few women’s colleges in the city, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Trichy and Auroville.
Cut to 2023, R Chudamani Memorial Trust’s Bharathi Chandru approached Ramakrishna for a sequel. “The first edition was well received, so, Bharathi Chandru from the trust asked us if we could do a part two with seven stories as there is a treasure house of stories from Chudamani,” says PC Ramakrishna, actor turned director.
Bharathi shared a few books written by the Tamil author. The director shares, “I selected the stories that had a different kind of vibe — which dealt with women who made strong statements in the 70s and 80s. These stories are different, in the sense, they deal with situations familiar to us. However, their treatment is different from what is happening today. Women then, have made statements that perhaps some women don’t even say today. That impressed me to choose the stories.”
These stories were then translated by the director PC Ramakrishna, KS Subramanian, CT Indra, T Sriraman, and Prabha Sridevan. Giving his insight into the literary works of Chudamani, S Ram, an actor who has been part of The Madras Players for the past 10 years, expresses, “The stories are contemporary and often focus on the challenges of women and their unspoken sensitivities. They are rich in content, nuance, and subtleties. There are a lot of unsaid and implied words which have as much impact as the spoken words.”
According to Ramakrishna, staging the drama is important because “These narratives are important from a woman’s point. Because, every day, we are talking about women being taken for granted, abused, and ignored. So here are seven women and seven stories which cannot be ignored. By merely doing what they do, they tell you that women are strong.” Adding to this, Ram says, “This play will be an eye-opener and a push to women who are a little hesitant to say what they want to say.”
Characters on stage
While these short stories were first translated into English and then adapted to theatre, carrying the “flavours, meanings, and ethos of the audience” is important. Ramakrishna explains, “The Tamil background of the story should not be an impediment. The drama should preserve the Indianness of the tale. For which, while the characters slip into the caricature they remain authentic and keep the integrity of the role alive.”
To bring the persons of the drama alive, the actors should become their characters. “This way, the artistes bring a freshness to the role and that excites me,” adds the director. Concurrently Ram says,” This gives the actor an opportunity to express herself or himself. When Ramakrishna gave me my character, he explained what he had visualised and left it up to me to improvise.”
The 21-membered cast has been taking training for the last two months, bringing different characters, narratives and statements to life. This year, “instead of the regular backdrops with props, we have worked with graphic designers to create images for each story that will be displayed as a backdrop,” shares Ram. As the day gets closer, the team is practising rigorously so that when the curtains go up and Chudamani talks to the audience, the response to Chudamani 2 is larger.
‘Chudamani 2’ will be held on September 14 at Narada Gana Sabha at 6:30 pm