Velvi
has been promoting playwriting/production and training in
playwriting.
Velvi organized two theatre
festivals in Madurai and has also published plays under the
programme Velvi Books.
PLAYS PRODUCED:
A play about a young man in Autism spectrum disorder and passionate about music learns the tough way about love and man and woman relationship.
This play speaks of how people in the spectrum behave and how some interventions can help them. The play can be performed on stage and it can also be a televison production
Any one interested in staging the play may contact ram@velvi.org
(1998)
A dance-drama based on
the concept of Fire as a universal element. Choreographed
by Bala Nandakumar, Agni outlines the discovery of fire and
the scientific revolution that has lead us up to the nuclear
missiles. Agni is passion for freedom, women’s liberation
and individual salavation through the invoking of the Fire
within us.
Agni was performed at Hotel Taj Garden Retreat in 1998,
Velvi Theatre festival at Madurai in 1998 and at Kanchipuram
theatre festival in 1999. Directed by Parasuram Ramamoorthi.
A mother tells a story to her son.
The classical epic Silapathikaram has been re-visited as a
narrative of a woman to her son. She narrates the story of
Kovalan , Kannagi and Madhavi to her son. A dance-drama choreographed
by Bala Nandakumar, songs by Dr.Ponnammal and directed by
Parasuram Ramamoorthi.
Silapathikram was commissioned by Hotel Taj Garden
Retreat for the Millenium Celebrations and was first perfomed
on 31 December 1999 and subsequently at Fatima College,Madurai
and to a group of Tamil teachers from Singapore in Dec 2004.
A remaking of the story of Parashuram,
one of the avatars of Vishnu, exploring the relationship between
Mother and son and also the male-female within one’s
self.
The play featured in the Velvi Theatre Festival in
1999 and later at the Bharat Mahotsav, New Delhi in 2000.
The play has been published by Velvi Books.
KOHINOOR
Set in London, the play celebrates Life and the joy
of living. TC Caroll calls it the "reversal of the Raj".
The Kohinoor restaurant in London, the Kohinoor Diamond from
India and myths related to diamonds are fused into Oriental
eroticism in the play. The play is a sexual comedy in a multicultural
society where one could experience the Dance of Life.
VANAPRASTHAM (2003)
A remaking of the story of Kunthi from The Mahabharata.
Narrated in first person, the play reads like an interview.
The play erases calendar images created by earlier televison
serials, plays and it is contemporary. There is no meaning
in war, Kunthi declares. When this was played at the University
of East Anglia, Norwich in 2003, there were reverberations
from the Iraq war. The play demonstrates that all wars are
the same and women’s problems allover the world are
same. The play is also an example of how reminiscence could
help us to cope with stress and depression.
IT'S ALL A GAME OF DICE
It’s All a Game of Dice, published by Asha
Publishers, Harihar, is another Mahabharata play performed
in Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The meaning of war, the meaning
of marital relationships are set against the background of
one man’s refusal to wear the mantle. Bhishma’s
vow costs a human race. Is the individual’s vow more
important than the country? This question is debated in the
Play.
Parasuram
Ramamoorthi’s play tranlsated
into French by Jean-Louis DEGROISSE, Théatrix, Paris
and Sudha Renganathan, Department of French, Madurai Kamaraj
University, Madurai, India.
‘ is a leap back into the history
of Hastinapour, an explosive moment in the early part the
great epic The Mahabharata. I have used it as a springboard
and I have not followed the Epic closely. My interest lies
elsewhere, the meaning of our Epic to our times.’ -
Parasuram Ramamoorthi
« Le titre nous fait penser aussi non seulement à
l'incident célèbre du , où
Youdhisthir risque et perd tout, y compris sa femme Draupadi,
dans un pari; mais aussi au prononcement d'Einstein que Dieu
ne joue pas au dès.»
- Ralph YARROW, University of East Anglia, Norwich,
ENGLAND in the preface
MACBETH
Shakespeare’s Macbeth in the political context,
directed by Dr. Parasuram Ramamoorthi, received international
acclaim. Set in the disturbed , unsettled political climate
in India, when horsetrading and switching loyalties was the
code of the day, the Scottish play reminded Indian audience
of the political changes happening in the 90s in India. An
Intercultural production with Indian Music and costumes, the
play established that “every Macbeth will have a Macduff”.
Indian folk live music and chants provided the right ambience
for the open air performance.
Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
with the mixed cast of Asians, British actors proved a visual
feast. The idea of Body/Mind dualism was captured in the setting
and the ritualistic process of performance was much talked
about and debated. The settingof a temple and the Narrators,
a male and female narrating the story of Devadatta and Kapila
and the Man with a Horse’s Head were interesting stories
to the western audience.
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