NATAK

Natak, an intercollegiate theatre festival was conducted in the city on the 24th, 25th and 26th of November. This ambitious venture was held for the first time in the city by Masquerade, a popular theatre group in the city. The festival was a hit among college goers and the theatre loving public. As many as five city colleges partcipated in this contest and competed for prizes for various disciplines like Best production, production, Best Stage and Set Design, Best Lighting Design and Execution, Best Sound Design and Engineering, Best Stage Management.

Overall Best Production went to Stella Maris College for the play Bayen. The story deals with plight of a lady who is the guardian of the cemetry and responsible for the burial of dead babies, who is branded a Bayen (evil spirit) by everybody.

The overall Best choice of Script went to Shekinah Jebaraj of Women's Christian College for her original script Seven for a Secret. This play is about a victim of rape and a friend who tries to take action against her rapists. The friend later becomes a famous playwright and comes in contact with the dead rape victim's daughter. It is a beautiful comment on the reality and illusion of public and private life and coming to grips with discrimination and the angst of a person who wants to help bring justice but cannot, (constrained by political and judicial forces).

The best director award went to Anupama Srinivasan of Stella Maris College, the best Actor award went to Sheetal Govindan of Stella Maris for her role as Malindar in Bayen.

Natak is another feather in the hat for Krishna Kumar, who is the man behind Masquerade. The theaterical talents of the city's college students are generally confined to the annual shows they conduct. But now, this festival may become another stage for these college students to use their talents and also compete with one another. A welcome development for the theatre scene in Chennai and definitely a push in the right direction for budding talent in the city.

BAYEN

The effort of the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), a voluntary non-profit organization for the welfare of the mentally ill and the disabled, must be lauded for its idea of propagating awareness about mental health issues through the medium of dance and theatre. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared 2001 as the year of Mental Health and April 7th as Mental Health Day. In this connection, a programme was held at Narada Gana Sabha, featuring a play titled 'Bayen' organised by the students of Stella Maris College, and 'Manasi', a choreo-theatre performed by Danseuse Anita Ratnam and her troupe.

The first part of the show, was the staging of the play 'Bayen'. It is the story of a woman scorned by society, a woman who yearns for a voice, a woman pleading for self-respect and dignity. It is also a story of a man torn between two diametrically opposing forces - Society and Love. In the end, neither force triumphs, for the defeat of love is the defeat of society. It is a play that shows the path to social reality… a woman's reality…. an Indian reality.

Yamini Subramanian did full justice to her role as Bayen. Her portrayal as the woman who is rejected by society was very convincing. The last scene that shows the death of Bayen, was particularly poignant. Chandidasi (Pratyusha Gupta) as the husband of Bayen, did a good job though one felt she could have brought out more depth to the character with a little more involvement. One felt that the multitude of emotions like anger, anguish, hurt, sadness… that she enacted were a little superficial. The costume of the cast, and the set design was simple. The Stella Marians deserve a pat on the back for successfully staging a play that was serious, mature and difficult to perform.

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