THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : There is always a magic that M T Vasudevan Nair brings to the table. He can effortlessly paint portraits of people and places in his stories, making them stay forever in our memories. He evokes classical nostalgia with use of vintage charm: staples in his stories are an old railway station, a grand Nalukettu house, the ever-buzzing tea shop where the conversations are hotter than tea, and that quaint little temple with a banyan tree and a stone bench around it where locals congregate for roadside chats.
These iconic settings were brought to life on the wide stage on the Tagore Theatre premises. It was quite a walk into MT’s world. The camaraderie was so natural that the gap between the audience and the characters blurred. One felt one could jump on to the stage and order a tea and be a part of rural, north Kerala society that MT brings to life with his lucid pen, where his play of words is as poignant as his romance with pauses.
The Kerala government’s Department of Culture, in association with the Department of Information and Public Relations, organised ‘Thudarcha’, a grand open-air stage show that paid tribute to MT.
Written and directed by Soorya Krishnamoorthy, the show starred over 50 talented actors, celebrating M T Vasudevan Nair’s literature. The event featured a three-hour performance that masterfully joined the characters from MT’s various stories and those of Krishnamoorthy into a single narrative.
The play begins with M T Vasudevan Nair’s story ‘Ninte Ormakku’ and progresses through the light and shadow on stage, accompanied by background sounds, poems, and folk songs.
Krishnamoorthy says: “Only two people have influenced me to this extent: Vaikom Muhammed Basheer as a person and M T Vasudevan Nair as a literary figure. Twenty-five years ago, I wrote a script that incorporated MT’s characters in a different style, which MT himself saw at the time. Now, on his 90th birthday, I wanted to create something similar.”
The play includes characters from several stories, including Pallivalum Kalchilambum, Vithukal, Piranthaalinte Ormakku, and Naalukettu. These characters connect to those in Krishnamoorthy’s plays including Ammu, the tea vendor Nanu Nair, the Nadhaswaram vidwan Kunchu Pillai, and Velichappadu Narayanan Kutty.
“Soorya’s programmes typically don’t exceed two hours, but this play runs continuously for three hours. The extended duration was necessary to portray a person’s life from childhood to middle age. Nature also plays an important role in this play. This is why the performance is held on an open stage. Despite the length, the audience remained engaged throughout. After all, they are MT’s characters, how can a person just leave them and go?” Krishnamoorthy says.
Danseuese Rachana Narayanankutty, who played an important role in the play, feels the response from the audience reflected MT’s charisma among literature lovers. “The feedback also helps us grow as artists,” she says.
“Soorya sir’s innovative concept allowed me to bring Ammu to life in a fresh way. There are challenges, such as performing extensive dialogues without a break, but the positive reception of my performance and the overall play is very overwhelming.”
Krishnamoorthy took a significant amount of time to write. “In my career, I have directed 114 programmes on 60,000 stages, but this one had the longest rehearsal—75 days. Poems by late poets such as Vishnu Namboothiri, P Bhaskaran, and others were used as background score as a tribute, honouring their influence on MT. New folk songs were also created,” he says.
‘Thudarcha’ will soon be performed in front of MT in Kozhikode. Krishnamoorthy also announced that the proceeds from the play will be donated towards the reconstruction efforts in Wayanad. There will be shows of the play till Friday (September 6).