‘Reclaiming the margins’, the focal theme of the 10th edition of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) itself was tricky, says theatre person Rajiv Krishnan, one of the three directors of the festival.
“Marginalised is more of a top-down definition. Margins can often be powerful areas of action and articulation, where new ideas, art, performances and landscape come to life. For that matter, theatre itself is a marginalised art form,” he says.
Lots of issues are overlooked in the mainstream. It is important to bring those kind of issues to public attention, said Mr. Krishnan, the Chennai-based director who made critically acclaimed plays including How to Skin a Giraffe , which was part of the ITFoK in 2015.
Unlike earlier years, a three-member team of the directorate comprising him, M.K. Raina, and S. Sunil, also theatre persons, selected the 33 plays included in the festival.
Quality and rigour of performance and the ability to engage the audience were the benchmarks for the selection process, he said.
“It was good to have a three-member directorate as we could bring different experiences and opinions to the table. It was through intense debates and discussions that the plays were chosen.”
The festival hopes to highlight the power of the margins as a space for collective reflection, engagement and action, said Mr. Krishnan.
“There is a noticeable presence of women power at the festival. Lots of women are participating in the festival as directors and actors. They speak out strongly against harassment and other discriminations,” Mr. Krishnan said.
“Theatre needs not to be entertaining always. It should provoke you to think, reflect the world we live in, and critically engage with certain issues.”
The distinction between different media used in live performances is blurring, said Mr. Krishnan, who had made two plays Sangathi Arinjha and Moonshine and Skytoffee based on stories of Vaikom Mohammed Basheer.
