KOZHIKODE: Theatre in city expects to make a strong comeback with the sixth edition of the Surasu Drama Festival, retitled as Kozhikodan Drama Festival, which opens here at the Town Hall on September 23.
The festival, which will be inaugurated by M T Vasudevan Nair, will have a fabulous performance by C M Surabhi, the best actress at the state Amateur Drama Festival, while several others will showcase their talents in the eight-day-long event.
Enacting the role of a woman destined to live alone, C M Surabhi won applauds from audience and the jury during the State Amateur Drama Festival. A native of Kozhikode, Surabhi is working with Suvarna Theatre, Ernakulam.
In the play ‘Yakshikathakalum Nattuvarthamanangalum’ by Suvarna Theatre, the Kozhikode-based actress has performed the struggles of a woman, who after an unconventional wedding and imprisonment of her husband faces a saga of loneliness and segregation.
As a lonely woman becomes a sensational topic, many gossips were spread out, including the one that she is a ‘yakshi’. The actress won the best actress award with her amazing performance.
Shankar Venkiteshwaran
A proponent of big theatre, Shankar Venkiteshwaran may not be a familiar face for denizens in Kozhikode but this Kozhikode native has won accolades from different parts of the world with his experiments in theatre art forms.
Shankar has already won laurels by staging ‘Sahyante Makan,’ a dramatic adaptation of Vyloppilli’s poem with the same title. The bilingual play in Malayalam and Japanese has developed a new model for the theatre lovers. Violating the traditional formats of drama followed by the Kozhikode-based artistes, he has developed a new identity in the global theatre.
Giving emphasis to the actors, Shankar has placed the characters in the play ‘Quick Death’ trapped in the clutches of death. ‘Quick Death’ will be staged during the Kozhikodan Drama Festival.
Utilising stage techniques, the play takes the viewers to a higher level. The first performance in Kerala also is expected to take the spectators by storm.
SAJITHA MADATHIL
Another major attraction of the festival, ‘Spinal Cord’ directed by Deepan Sivaraman, also revolves around a female character enacted by Sajitha Madathil. Sajitha, a director herself, also is a native of Kozhikode.
She plays the role of a mother who woke up from a haunting nightmare with unpleasant memories of her son. The play, ‘Oxygen’, narrates the story of a murder and its tragic consequences in a township and the haunting memory of a mother 27 years after the incident.
Sajitha’s performance has been lauded by the audience and the play also expects a warm reception at the Kozhikodan Drama Festival.
