Krishna of Bangladesh 1

Painting of Kamala Vauki

Cover of a Play Script: Man is here; Where is Women?

A new short play in Thamil by S.Jeyasankar
with the Translation in English By Lallini Tissaweerasinghe
and designed by S. Nirmalavasan.

Painting of S. Nirmalavasan

Reflections of Reality

Lessons from a replica
S.S. KAVITHA

Here’s a play that teaches one the importance of creating a positive society.

Photo: G. Moorthy The cast: Out to do away with the ills of society.

The sky is filled with stars and similarly the earth with refugee children ... We love to live in unison both with nature and people…. the introductory song sung by the 20-odd children of Children’s Theatre group of Centre for Experiencing Socio-Cultural Interaction (CESCI) reflected the children’s untainted nature. To enhance their blemish-free qualities, the children who were all draped in two-shades of green were giggling and laughing and took position s and started enacting the children’s drama “Kuthiraikkutti Venumappa.”

They not only voiced their views on children’s nature and societal-evils but also created their own music and sounds suited to their situations not from instruments but with their mouths.
But, the drumbeats that were played occasionally by an artiste were hardly audible.

Briefing the story-line of the play, Sivagnanam Jeyasankar, senior faculty in the Department of Fine Arts, Eastern University, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, in charge of creative facilitation said that the power of grasping knowledge and skills in childhood years was tremendous.

Suppu, the child in the play “Kuthiraikutti Venumappa” inherits insincerity from his father. Suppu reflects the cheating traits of his father all through his life and in the end reaps the consequences of the same. Positive world
The play as such would deal with this issue and create a playful environment for children and parents to think positive in order to lead a happy life, Jeyasankar said.

He said that he motivated the children to come up with their own ideas and thoughts and helped them channel their energy, besides improvising their thoughts and giving shape to their ideas.

The children’s theatre of CESCI had given the village children an opportunity to think, imagine and visualise their words into action in the form of a drama, said M. Shanmugaraja, actor-cum-theatre personality, who took care of the set and costume designing.

Village children
With the Children’s theatre, the CESCI had planned to focus on community development involving village children, he said and added that the Children’s Theatre Group that was formed in April 2007 had completed its first production called “Chipichung” (monster), and the second production was “Kuthiraikkutti Venumappa.”

Shanmugaraja said that they had planned to produce four dramas a year that would be enacted in village schools. “Many elite schools had engaged an exclusive drama teacher as drama would help children in their over-all development. But, who will take care of rural children, especially in Government schools, who are often deprived of pleasant things? The children’s theatre would get involved,” he pointed out.

“We are free from all kinds of dirt found in society. But, unwillingly we become a party to it or become a part of it. This is what we highlight in the play,” said P. Meena, a Std. IX student.
The play has a lesson for parents that they should behave better for the sake of their children, who invariably imbibe qualities good and bad from their parents. Besides, the play also concentrates on the prevailing social evils, such as dowry harassment and greed, said P. Nivetha, a Std. VIII student.

Jeyasankar is here for a children’s theatre workshop, produced in association with CESCI, involving kids from the villages of Kadavur, Vemparali, Kancharampeattai and Chathirappatti near Madurai.

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