‘Four stories of strife and resilience’ — that’s how director V Balakrishnan describes his latest production, Solladi Sivashakthi, a stage representation of short stories written by Tamil writer Andal Priyadarshini. There’s no fresh script written by him here, we learn, as Bala says, “The performance stays true to the form that the story is originally written in — where the written word rules supreme, and the actor embodies the play.” The actor in this solo performance is Shakthi Ramani, a senior artiste at Theatre Nisha, who was earlier seen in plays like Mata Hari and Gunapathy.
Solladi Sivashakthi revolves around the lives of women, and delves into their desires, aspirations and complexities. The play features four short stories —Karpenapaduvadhu, Vaanavil Vaazhkai, Thaali Kodiyum Thoppul Kodiyum and Kadaisi Kadidham. The first is a story of a young married woman, who is brutally raped in a police station, while the second is the story of a mother’s efforts to raise her child. Thaali Kodiyum Thoppul Kodiyum shows the struggles of a daughter whose father is in coma, and Kadaisi Kadidham reflects upon a situation if God comes to life.
With music composer Srivaralakshmi Maya and sitarist Varun Aiyer, the songs in this play have lyrics by Andal too. “The music resonates with her writings,” says Bala, who adds that Solladi Sivashakthi was first staged in Coimbatore in 2012, and was later featured in the Purusai and Soorya festivals. “Dramatising short stories has been something which I have done before during my days in Delhi. Later, I had directed plays with a similar format for Koothu-P-Pattarai,” he further says, revealing that they are working on a number of new projects for the next year. “Wait for my one-act show Dwijottama and Miss Julie, originally written by August Strindberg,” he says.
December 29. 7.30 pm. Open to ages 12 and above. Entry at Rs. 100. Details: 99400-98396.