KOCHI: Theatre group Kanal Samskarika Vedi is coming back with the 9th edition of its Kanal theatre award. Theatre director and Scenographer Deepan Sivaraman will receive the honour this year, for his contributions to theatre. Deepan, who is also the founder of Thrissur-based Oxygen Theatre Company, has directed around 60 theatrical works in different languages. The award will be handed over to Deepan by Deputy Speaker V Sasi at an event which will be held in the Vyloppilly Samskruthi Bhavan on Thursday.
The Kanal-Vayala award has been instituted by the group in commemoration of the late Vayala Vasudevan Pillai. Santosh Venjarammood, one of the active patrons of the group says, “The award, instituted in 2009, is given to young contributors in theatre. Though it was just Kanal award initially, it was renamed the Kanal-Vayala award after his death.”
Raja Varier, Abhilash Pillai, Tulasidhara Kuruppu, Sajitha Madathil and Prasanth Narayanan are among the former recipients of the honour. Kanal Samskarika Vedi will also be staging its play ‘The Trap’ on the occasion. The play, staged in the arena format, is one of Kanal’s first initiatives towards staging plays with more original screenplays.Sivaraman has received the Charles Wallace India Trust Award, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award and Mahindra Excellence in Theatre awards.
The theatre director, who has previously served as the artistic director for the International Theatre Festival of Kerala, is currently an associate professor of performance studies at School of Culture and Creative Expressions at the Ambedkar University, Delhi. Kanal Samskarika Vedi had recently come up with a Sanskrit drama ‘Kimartham Draupadi’ which is the only one from South India which was selected among the Ministry of Culture’s list of nine shortlisted plays. The play, among the other works representing India, will be staged outside the country.