The Play Is Presented In English By Gayathri Govind Who Essays The Titular Character
When efficiency areas closed throughout the lockdown, digital mediums turned the stage for a number of artistes throughout the globe. Theatre additionally went on-line, with productions being streamed reside or uploaded after recording. Kalanilayam, a theatre group that made a mark with its lavish and mass productions, too has gone for a change of scene.
On Saturday (August 1), it presents a reside streaming of its manufacturing, Hidimbi, on the Facebook web page of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), High Commission of India, Colombo.
“Titled Hidimbi – An Arrow From The Past, this is an English version of the original work in Malayalam. The two-hour production has been trimmed to 45 minutes,” says Anandapadmanabhan, son of Krishnan Nair, founding father of Kalanilayam.
Gayathri Govind, daughter of Anandapadmanabhan, essays Hidimbi, which she did within the authentic as nicely from 2015 to 2018. The play, a monologue, strikes by way of the mindscape of Hidimbi, a less-discussed character from the Mahabharata. A demoness, she will get married to Bhima, one of many Pandavas. But, ultimately, she not solely loses her love but additionally her brother, Hidumba, and her son, Ghatotkacha.
Keeping it easy
Hidimbi, initially scripted and directed by Gireesh C Palam, premièred in 2014. “It was a massive production with multimedia projection and 3D effects. The online version won’t have any of that. Except for a background score, there wouldn’t be any props or set. I don’t have the costume with me and I will be in a regular get-up,” says Gayathri, a educated classical dancer and assistant professor in Computer Science at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore.
“I was approached by the cultural centre to stage a Mohiniyattam performance. It was my suggestion to do the play. Since non-Malayalis will also be watching it, I translated it into English,” provides the artiste.
Calling it “an experiment”, Gayathri says that adapting the artwork to on-line platforms in the interim is a viable possibility for theatre artistes. “While cinema has an audience on OTT platforms, we can’t expect that to happen for theatre. It is an attempt to prove that nothing is impossible. I am nervous because I am not sure whether I would be able to do justice to the nuances of the character when I do it in English,” says Gayathri, who made her début in theatre with the character.
The play begins with Hidimbi looking for Ghatotkacha’s lifeless physique within the battlefield of Kurukshetra. She then goes down reminiscence lane, remembering her romance with Bhima, their marriage, her brother’s dying and the way Bhima left her on her personal within the forest when she was pregnant.
“This an attempt to keep theatre artistes motivated as most of them are disheartened having stayed away from the stage for four months now,” says Anandapadmanabhan.
Gayathri will likely be going reside from a corridor at Hosur the place she at the moment stays. The play will likely be streamed on the web page https://www.facebook.com/ICCRSriLanka on August 1 from 5.30 pm.
