D. Reghoothaman's silver tresses turn heads as he poses for the camera in the lobby of Mascot Hotel. Many of the Malayalis there recognise him as the leading theatre activist that he is while some of the tourists play a guessing game amongst themselves, wondering if he is auteur Adoor Gopalakrishnan! Oblivious to the whispered conversations around him, Reghoothaman continues talking about how he is making his dream of a theatre village come true on three acres of greenery at Plathara, at Karakulam, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. Eventually, he hopes it will encompass a theatre school, performing space, living quarters and space to study and work on theatre.
It has been a welcome change of scene for Abhinaya, the theatre group that he co-founded in 1992 with the late S. Ajayan, a theatre activist. From makeshift rehearsal camps in thatched sheds to a pucca theatre village, it has been an eventful journey for Reghoothaman and Abhinaya.
In Macbeth , the inaugural play in the village in 2008, theatre buffs were surprised to see V. Venu, senior bureaucrat, playing the role of King Duncan. The ability to attract and groom a new generation of theatre activists and aficionados has been Reghoothaman's biggest achievement.
When he recounts that struggle to gain acceptability and recognition for his work from his sceptical family and society, there are remnants of angst, anger, cynicism and pain. But the dominant feeling is of vindication, of having proved himself in spite of swimming against the current. Having completed two successful tours of Kerala (Abhinaya's Summer Theatre Festival), Reghoothaman is justifiably proud that his troupe was able to pack theatres with spectators who bought tickets to see their plays.
His tryst with theatre began during his college days when the shy but talented sportsperson, singer, mimic, and artist felt he was on home ground while acting in his first play, Jwala Mukham . The chemistry graduate was in his element on the stage.
The budding actor became an activist of K. Raghu's Nataka Yogam and staged several street plays. What gained him a name in the theatre world was Vamshagatha , a two-hour solo act in which he had to enact 35 characters! So dedicated was he to the cause of theatre, that he even turned down an offer to act in the Padmarajan-scripted film Edavela .
Training under legends
He joined the School of Drama, Thrissur, where his innate skills were honed by legends such as Finnish director Maya Tanberg, theatre legend Shankara Pillai, and so on. Following his graduation, he toured India and earned his keep by putting up street plays and puppet shows. “A visit to the Nek Chand Garden in Punjab proved that one did not need money or material to unleash one's creativity ,” he recalls. That also gave him the courage to start a troupe of his own. After returning to Kerala in 1990, he set about learning Kalaripayattu, fine arts, and Kathakali, and read voraciously. Marriage and family did not stop his pursuit of a new theatre idiom although he had to take a break now and then.
Although Reghoothaman recently played the lead of a tantric practitioner in Vipin Vijay's award-winning film Chitrasutram , he does not feel that cinema is his stamping ground. In 1995, The Hindu the France-based Footsbarn theatre Odyssey invited four Abhinaya members to participate in their workshop for the play, Odyssey .
“Finally, of the five Malayali actors chosen, four happened to be from Abhinaya. It was a great experience to work with the troupe and travel to Latin America, Europe, the United Kingdom…,” he reminisces.
From five actors drawing a salary grant from the Department of Culture, today there are 14.
Abhinaya has been invited to participate in the World Theatre Festival at Brisbane in January 2012. They will be staging Sagara Kanyaka there.
“Many institutions atrophy because it revolves around one person. We have succeeded in grooming several actors and also a director of the calibre of M.G. Jyothish and lighting director Srikant,” says Reghoothaman.
Honours list
Festival de Almada, 2000 Portugal
Soorya Theatre Festival 2001, Thiruvananthapuram
Natyotsav 2001, Jammu
Yavanika Theatre Festival 2001, Hyderabad
Bharat Rang Mahotsav, 2001, 2002, New Delhi
Rang- Swarn, 2003, New Delhi
Dakshin Rang Mahotsav 2004, Bangalore
Prithvi Theatre Festival, 2003, 2006, Mumbai
Villeneuve en Scene-AvignonFestival, France (2007)
Major plays
Viralppadu, directed by D. Reghoothaman
Fire and the Rain, directed by S. Ramanujam
Bhagavadajjukam, directed by Jyothish M.G.
Verdigris, directed by Abhilash Pillai
Kamala, directed by C.S. Deepan
Royal Hunt of the Sun, directed by Narippatta Raju
Karutha Daivathe Thedi, directed by S. Ramanujam
Siddartha, directed by M.G. Jyothish
Sagara Kanyaka, directed by M.G, Jyotish
Palangal, directed by D. Reghoothaman
Macbeth, directed by M.G. Jyothish
