Yet life is beautiful

KOCHI: Life is an ecstasy and one has to live it to its fullest, whatsoever comes in the way. And the line between life and death is at times blurred which is determined by the way we approach them. The play ‘Sudhamaddalam’ staged at Town Hall by Theatre Initiative Kerala on Tuesday puts forth these ideas. It gives a new perspective to the play that veteran playwright N N Pillai wrote years ago.As the play opens, two individuals who have made up their minds to end their lives meet in the backdrop of a railroad.They get immersed in a headlong debate as to which is the most aesthetically appealing way to commit suicide. As their conversation progresses, it turns out that both of them dread death.While the man who carries toddy in his bag prefers to gulp the liquor in a breath and then jump to the abyss of the deep river, the other plans to take poison. The playwright through these two bruised souls has mocked Keralites who are notorious for their tendency to commit suicide for apparently no serious reason. And as the play progresses, they finds that the cause for their impudent decision is a woman and they curse womankind for all the misfortune that has befallen them. However, as the soulful music from a far-away percussion instrument reverberates in their ears, the feeling of dejection and gloominess  gives way to a new glimmer of hope. And the eternal music of life wins the day.Amal Raj and Rajesh Sharma of Theatre Initiative Kerala, who are well known in the theatre scene, enact the role of the two men. Says Amal Raj, “We have made a few changes to the original text to make it more apt to present life. At times, when the actors rebuke woman for their sorrows, one may wonder if the play is chauvinistic. But this is essentially a humanistic play as we have tried to analyse the world from the eyes of both man and woman.”Many existential issues find a voice in the play. “We have tried to bring up the issues of people who lead a claustrophobic life in their self-made cocoons,” says Amal. One uniqueness of the play was that instead of proscenium arch where the actors usually perform, the actors here made use of the arena space and frequently interacted with the audience.There was no artificial set and simple props were used. The play by Theatre Initiative Kerala, an new collective of theatre activists and artists in Kerala, was staged as part of the 30 day theatre workshop of Abhinaya, Kerala’s premier travelling theatre festival.