THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Travelling through the life and mind of women has always proved a tough task. Taking on the challenge, Nireeksha Women’s Theatre, in its latest play ‘Punarjani’, presents a woman who goes through not just the life but also the death of three other women, who have been killed.
All the three murders have links with the most essentials of life - air, water and fire. While one of the women was strangled, the other was killed by drowning and the third set on fire.
The lead role of the play is done by Kalamandalam T M Sindhu. Sometimes, the narrator of the story of the murdered women becomes the characters. “The lead character, Punarjani, not only travels through women’s mental transactions but tries to enact their lives as well. After going through their lives, she starts bearing the things they left behind, be it the thoughts remained unshared within them or the words which were kept unspoken,” artistic director of the group Sudhi Devayani told ‘Express.’
Punarjani travels from one woman to another without completing the journey. She tries to change the existing system which poses a threat to the women. Nireeksha, which always seeks a new style in techniques and dares experiments in acting, presents the new play as sordid realities and without exaggerations. The murdered women in the play are representatives of the women who have to take on various roles in life.
Eminent theatre personalities like P K Lenin, Aswathy Chand, V T Prasoon, Maniprasad, N P Shinil, K P Sathy, K P Sreemathy, V M Viji and M C Priya are the other actors in the play. Sudhi Devayani is the director and E Rajarajeswari penned it. Shibu S Kottaram is the art director.
The play will be staged at Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan in the city on June 4, at 6.30 pm.
Formed by the effort of a group of women, Nireeksha, based in Paamamcode near Pappanamcode, has been in the social stream for the past 14 years and has many awards to its credit. Nireeksha’s plays like ‘Aanunngalillatha Pennungal’ and ‘Pravachaka’ have raised the eyebrows of many people stuck in stigmas.
Always related with life and its real issues Nireeksha presented a play ‘Oorjashree’ in association with state Kudumbashree Mission focusing on the power issues of the state in various places in the 14 districts. The team members of Nireeksha stayed at tsunami camps to present a play, ‘Human Tsunami’. They travelled to the tribal hamlets of Attappadi and directed a play in the Irula language. E Rajarajeswari is the president of the theatre and Vimala Menon is the patron.
