'Sangathi Arinha staged
'Sangathi Arinha', a play based on seven short stories by acclaimed Malayalam writer Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, was staged on Friday in the ongoing National Theatre Festival being held at Tagore Theatre and Vyloppilly Samskruthi Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram.
Presented by Perch Theatre, Chennai, this bilingual play directed by Rajiv Krishnan, is an adventurous mix of the seven short stories penned by Basheer, with a common vein of love, humour and pathos binding them together. The stories are 'Neela Velicham', 'Poovan Pazham', 'Mathilukal', 'Sthalathe Pradhana Divyan', 'Viswavikhyatamaya Mookku', 'Oru Manushyan' and 'Shabdangal'.
During a face-to-face interaction, director Krishnan said Sangathi Arinha is a tribute to the greatness of Basheer. "It was the simple style and the beauty of the language in Basheer’s works that prompted me to make a play out of them. All of Basheer’s stories and most of his characters are adaptable for the stage. Though I have tried to convey Basheer’s range and his understanding of man through his play, I am aware that a two-hour stage performance is too inadequate to do justice to Basheer’s genius."
The characters speak in Malayalam and English. The cast includes Paul Mathew, Iswar Srikumar, Srikrishna Dayal, Anand Sami, Kaveri Lalchand, Jagan P., Karuna Amaranth, Aparna Gopinath and Rajiv Krishnan.
The director called upon the government for steps to promote regional theatre. Noted theatre director Chandradasan was the moderator. Festival director Abhilash Pillai and theatre technicians Natesh, Anushka, Anjana and Eeswar were present.
