Women with minds of their own were the focus of Chudamani , a Madras Players’ production that was staged in the city under the auspices of The Aura on Saturday.
Directed by thespian and voiceover artiste P.C. Ramakrishna, the 90-minute English play featured seven short stories by noted Tamil writer R. Chudamani (1931-2010) translated by Prabha Sridevan and the director and adapted for the stage in a seamless narrative that showcased the many facets of its female protagonists.
Whether as the newly-wed Suganthi regretting her marriage to a much-older man or as the free spirit Sankari trying to figure out her spiritual fulfillment through matrimony, or even as the young widow Kasturi secretly enjoying the attentions of an unlikely suitor, the women portrayed by Chudamani were self aware and much ahead of their times. It is no surprise that they are ‘future-proof’ too, as the audience reaction to the play.
Nikhila Kesavan, who has also adapted the stories for the stage, portrayed a character that amalgamated aspects of the writer’s persona and that of her characters. Her white sari-clad presence remained almost constant on stage, giving clarity to the shifting scenes.
A creative use of the austere setting converted simple stage props like a bench into the plush interiors of a car (as in ‘Bhuvana and Star Sign’) or a living room according to the story’s requirements. With most of the featured stories written in the 1970s and ’80s, objects like a cassette player and Tamil movie posters tried to infuse a sense of the past into the present. Chudamani’s own wooden writing desk formed a key part of the set.
Despite its overt emphasis on marriage and evolving social mores, Chudamani did not confine itself to being a feminist thesis. For example, the debate between Thulasi and her father, a temple priest, examined the need to balance devotion with realism, and also make place for the underprivileged in one’s life.
Director Ramakrishna’s turn as the blind father of an aging daughter (‘Seeing in the Dark’) lifted a slightly slow narration of what happens when a woman must choose between filial duty and matters of the heart.
Chudamani ’s stellar cast of amateur performers recreated an era when letters were written, film songs had meaning that could be used in off-screen situations and the number of automobile brands in India could be counted on the fingers of one hand. While transcending the passage of years, the overarching theme stayed true to the line uttered by one of the characters says in the play: “dreams should never grow old.”
