‘ Bommalattam ’, the traditional puppet show, is one of the oldest visual art forms in the country.
Having its origins in Tamil Nadu, it was popular throughout the State and enjoyed good patronage in temple festivals .
In order to revisit the 3,000-year-old traditional art and to encourage teachers to adopt this visual art in teaching, the Department of English of Periyar University has organised a five-day workshop on ‘puppetry and folk theatre’.
The event commenced at the university on Monday with a puppet show. It is organised in association with the Maiyam Veethi Nataka Iyakkam, Madurai, and Tamil Nadu Puppetry Art Academy, Chennai.
Puppets showcased the history of a country, its countrymen and their daily lives, said D. Swaminathan, Vice-Chancellor, Periyar University, in his presidential address at the inaugural.
He spoke on the importance of this ancient form of theatre and exhorted the faculty and students to adopt this visual art in teaching.
Puppetry had been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of societies.
Mr. Swaminathan explained that puppetry initiated communication skills to children in the learning process. It could also assist children with special educational needs.
They could motivate and support children with difficulties in communication and interaction.
Themes
Puppetry, street play, origami, simple drawing, folk dance are the other themes that will be dealt in the workshop, according to V. Sangeetha, professor and head, Department of English.
Kalaivanan of Tamil Nadu Puppetry Academy is one of the resource persons at the workshop.
He was instrumental in making “gloves puppetry” ( Kaiyurai Bommalattam ) popular in the State.
He has been promoting social themes such as care for the environment, health and hygiene, significance of education, human rights, organic farming and also prevention of child marriage through puppetry shows and workshops.
He is being assisted by his son K. Mutharsan at the workshop.
Satyamanickam, founder, Maiyam Veethi Nataka Iyakkam, is the resource person for street theatre, and Balpandian, master in several folk dance forms such as ‘pari’, ‘oyilattam’, ‘kummi’, ‘sattaikuchi’ and ‘kolattam’, is the resource person for the folk theatre.
