When one watches the Malayalam drama competition in a packed house at the State School Arts Festival, one is convinced, year after year, that the children’s theatre in the State is alive and kicking. Dedicated schoolteachers like Sivadas Poyilkavu could take a lot of credit for bringing onto the stage the future stars of acting.
“I have been writing and producing plays for children for more than six yeas now,” says Sivadas, who won the Prof. Joseph Mundassery Award in 2012 for his collection of plays. His plays have been winning prizes consistently for the past four years at the school arts festival.
At the State School Arts Festival held in Palakkad a few days ago, two of his plays competed. One of them, ‘Marupattu,’ won the first prize in the high school section. The play was presented by Sivadas’s school, Thiruvangur HSS, near Kozhikode. He had also directed a play in the higher secondary school section, ‘Mindaprani,’ for Memunda HSS, and it secured an ‘A’ grade.
Three timesSivadas and the Thiruvangur school were winning the drama prize for the third time at the State festival, having triumphed in 2010 and 2011. Both those plays had also won the prize for the best actor (for C. Vishnu, who now makes a living by polishing cars).
Another protégé of Sivadas, S.P. Athul, won the best actor award the following year. He also won the State Television Award for the best child actor last year.
