“Had I not joined Nigazh Theatre Centre, I would have been a school dropout roaming the streets of my village,” confesses M. Azhagar who is now doing under-graduation in physics.
Hailing from Seegupatti, a village on the foothills of Alagarmalai, Azhagar is also a trained actor with some creditable performances. His ambition is to do a theatre course in Bangalore or Hyderabad and then join the National School of Drama. “Initially, my parents were against it. Now they understand how theatre changed my outlook,” he says.
Azhagar is a product of one of the many outreach programmes of Nigazh. Eight years ago 25 children were picked up for training in acting from Chathirapatti, Seegupatti, Kadavur, Parali, Lingavadi and Vemparali villages. “Just for fun, I raised my hand when the coordinator asked who all were interested in a performance. I never knew what was in store,” says Azhagar.
“As all the children were from the villages near the hills they all came up with stories on monsters and the script for ‘Chippichung’ evolved,” says M. Shanmugaraja founder-director of Nigazh. “The children showed tremendous potential. Four of them are still continuing with us,” he adds.
Azhagar was sent to ‘Therukoothu’ exponent Purisai Sambandan for a koothu training session where he exceeded all expectations and earned the respect of the masters. “I was thrilled to learn that the master selected him for Dushyasan’s role,” says Shanmugaraja, who founded the centre in 2002 to involve people in artistic works.
Ever since the centre has been organising workshops, conducting festivals and staging full-length productions. Many of its activities are done in collaboration with educational institutions. The centre’s trained staff visits different districts organising theatre performances that involve the local school and college students.
The Nigazh team has travelled all over the country and also been involved in development activities. According to B.Venkatesan, the supervisor of outreach programmes social issues like general health awareness with focus on mental health, environment, ecology and de-addiction have been taken up so far in association with voluntary organisations.
“We have worked in more than 150 coastal villages staging plays on evils of alcoholism, importance of education and sanitation. We have also done State Government’s promotional campaigns on mental illness in 100 villages in Ramanathapuram,” says Bharathi, centre’s artistic director.
Nigazh’s main tool to reach out to people is the Forum theatre. The model provides a platform to people to express themselves and audience are not mute spectators but they also are drawn into performance. “People face daily problems in life but often suppress them. We give them the chance to come out of their shells and most end up seeing theatre as a therapeutic outlet for pent up emotions,” says Shanmugaraja.
Primarily a centre for traditional theatre activity, Nigazh also has a repertory to train people for the productions. Though Shanmugaraja follows Safdar Hashmi and Badal Sircar, he also tries to act as a bridge between the traditional and the street theatre. “I wanted to blend the exquisiteness of traditional theatre and the energy of street plays. That is why I use props and costumes even in my street plays. It attracts people. I like to reach out to more number of people and if possible make them a part of the production,” he says.
The centre is now working with orphans and the children of dalit, HIV positive and single parents free of cost. As part of their inter-cultural network, Nigazh has also invited eminent theatre personalities from Switzerland, Brazil and France to share the knowledge and culture besides coordinating with NSD for workshop productions down south.
Shanmugaraja dreams of bringing all the independent and scattered Tamil theatre groups under one umbrella and create a space for regular theatre activity in the city. After 76 workshops, 12 festivals and 13 stage productions, Shanmugaraja continues to yearn to get closer to people. “From them, we get the confidence to work more,” he says.
