After a twenty-year hiatus, Ooty raises it’s curtains to theatre

UDHAGAMANDALAM: After more than two decades, Ooty on Monday evening witnessed a typical theatrical performance at Anna stadium. And this was part of the novel initiative by a group of art lovers, who set-up an art club called the Native Art Collective, to develop Nilgiris as a destination for showcasing the art and culture of the popular tourist hotspot.
Performing its first-ever play in Ooty, the Manalmagudi Theatre Land thoroughly entertained the packed house of audience for one-and-a-half hours as the actors enacted the search for ‘Korrathi’ (gypsy woman) having the colour of dust and the smell of mud.
The play, Mayakomaligalin Jalakkannadi (illusional clowns’ mystique mirror), had its actors enacting the beauty of the wild, besides talking about moistness of roots of the trees – and their body movements in perfect sync with the music played in the background.
The play, though not correlated to situations directly, showcased the extreme pain experienced at every chapter of modern history.
According to the director of the play, S.Murugaboopathy, it was an experimental experience and the audience could adopt the tale accordingly.
Murugaboopathy, a known face in the theatre circle, has travelled extensively and performed street plays in more than 200 villages across the country. He is the founder director of Manalmagudi Theatre Land, a contemporary non-conventional theatre troupe that continuously experiments with theatrical content – be it in terms of text, movements, properties, music visuals and space. He has acted in and directed more than 20 plays, depicting the loneliness of prisoners and suppressed local histories.
Murugaboopathy makes extensive use of rituals prevailing in rural parts of Tamil Nadu, but gives them a theatrical touch. The proceeds from the play was donated to the Rotary Ashia, a home for the differently-abled.