It is re-release time not just for films like Karnan or Kudiyiruntha Koil. Forty years after it was first staged, Cho Ramaswamy’s play, Endru Thaniyum Intha Suthanthira Thaagam, will be staged in the city on Wednesday by T.V. Varadarajen’s United Visuals theatre.
“We are pretty excited about this,” says Varadarajen. “Nobody has ever had the honour of re-staging a play by Viveka troupe run by Cho sir.”
Endru Thaniyum Intha Suthanthira Thaagam is a political satire that employs fantasy as a theme. “The play is about what happens if Indian democracy is followed in Devaloka. We have characters like Yama, Narada, Vasishta, Durvasar, etc.”
Varadarajen has not made any changes to the script. “We are sure it will still be politically relevant because as Cho sir once said, it is neither the script nor the individuals who make the play successful but the system that he writes about!”
But Cho Ramaswamy says he will wait for audience reaction. “Varadarajen is confident of the play’s success. He thinks it would still be relevant. I want to see how it is accepted now.”
While Varadarajen is thrilled that he is probably the only theatre person who would have the honour of staging a play before some members of a troupe that had once staged it, he is also aware that expectations are running high. “People keep asking me about specific characters in the play that was staged 40 years ago. They ask me if this character would come or if that dialogue would be delivered.
In fact, we have been having a flood of enquiries and bookings. We are working really hard to rise to their expectations.”
Varadarajen says the troupe normally has 20 rehearsals for any production, but, for this one, they had over 60 rehearsals.
The puranic sets and special costumes would be new for the next-gen theatergoer. “We hope Cho sir’s script will recreate the same magic that has now been recreated on screen by Karnan and Kudiyiruntha Koil,” says Varadarajen.