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The Madras Players performs English and Indian playwrights in equal measure. A newer addition to the theatre scene is Evam, founded in 2003, and nominated as one of the Tata NEN Hottest Startups in 2008. Determined to make theatre a paying proposition, the Group has had 225 shows of 16 plays across the country over the last five years with a turnover of Rs 1.6 crore (US $318000).
“Tamil theatre in Tamil Nadu has its origin in Therukoothu or rural story drama performances.
Structurally, stage plays can be dated to the productions of The Madurai Boys Company and to the great Nawab Rajamanikkam, who introduced Spectacle theatre on stage, later emulated by RS Manohar. Pioneers of the Tamil stage were TKS Brothers, SV Sahasranamam, Poornam Viswanathan, YG Parthasarathy and others. Therukkoothu performances are still very much in vogue in the rural areas. Urban Tamil theatre has yielded to the lure of TV serials though groups like Koothu-P-Pattarai, led by Na Muthusamy, try to keep Tamil theatre alive.
The Madras Players, with 53 years of continuous existence are the oldest English theatre group in India. Chennai based playwrights like Girish Karnad (now in Bangalore), Tim Murari, Chetan Shah, Shreekumar Varma, Anupama Chandrasekhar, Gowri Ramnarayan, Sabitha Radhakrishna, among others have contributed to the English theatre movement.”
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P C Ramakrishna in Madras Players and MTC Production’s ‘Mercy’, an English adaptation of a Tamil novel by Sivasankari, directed by Mithran Devanesan. |