“Sir, kindly check whether my voice is in tune with the music,” a child pestered the musician in front of the stage. On the other side, another student rehearsing his dialogues wanted to know whether his make up and costumes were intact. For many of these students of TVS group of schools performing in front of motley audience at the Laskhmi Sundaram Hall was a thrilling experience. It was a wonderful opportunity well made use of.
LVS inter-school drama festival brought together all the stakeholders – students, teachers, parents and the school administration – to create awareness on drama and how it can help students gain self-confidence.
In all 12 plays in different genres, comedy, philosophical, historical, musical and fairy tale were staged in junior and senior categories. A. Ramasamy’s ‘ Mooda Desathu Muttal Raja ’ by TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School and ‘ Idhu Yaaru Kombu ’ by TVS Higher Secondary School, brought out the essence of drama in traditional way.
Mooda Desathu Muttal Raja hit hard at the existing punishment system. A satire on society, the play throws light on how those at the helm of the affairs dictate terms. At the height of stupidity, the Muttal Raja, who thinks high of himself, orders his people to follow the day as night and night as day. His citizens accept king’s foolhardiness fearing punishment. The director effectively used the Kattiyankaran (jester) as the audience comment on the play. The only link between the play and the audience, Kattiyankaran finally plunges into action and takes centre-stage to bail out the people from their problems. “The play questions the system,” says N. Rajkumar, the director of the play. “We rehearsed for 15 days and the set properties were designed by sculptor Prasanna,” he says.
Directed by Karu Thilagarajan, Idhu Yaaru Kombu had all the essential ingredients of the children’s theatre. “The story for the play evolved during regular workshops we conducted,” says Thilagarajan, a Tamil teacher. The drama talks about the ruler and how he tries to grab things at will from his subjects. “In our school, I regularly meet students after school hours to discuss about stories and performances,” he says. The only problem was overcrowding of actors on stage. At times it became a huge problem for the director to position the actors. “Probably the students are conscious of the lights and the microphones and crowd at those places,” he admits.
Colourful backdrops and gaudy costumes marked the success of the dance drama ‘ Ramanin Payanam ’ by the students of TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Directed by dance teacher Prema, the play took the audience on a journey to the Ramayana period. Music and dance complemented the story.
“Drama and dance skills help students develop creativity and clear understanding of the role they play. This kind of involvement also sharpens their learning skills,” says R. Srinivasan, Director, LVS.
“At Lakshmi School every event is a team effort and the English department worked for the skit. As for the dance drama, it was choreographed by Revathi our dance teacher,” says Shanthi Mohan, Vice Principal, Lakshmi School.
Other plays staged were Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment , Jonathan Livingston’s Sea Gull and Pied Piper of Hamelin by Lakshmi School, Fall of Pride by TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Kelvi Kuri and Twelve dancing princesses by Lakshmi Matriculation School, Thenali Dance Drama by TVS Higher Secondary School, Snow white and Dwarfs by TVS Primary School and Vidhiya? Bharathiya? by TVS Community College.
