| PRESS
RELEASE
Toronto, January 26, 2003
Manaveli Performing Arts
Group To Present Tenth Annual Festival
 Manaveli
Performing Arts Group, Canada's premier Tamil theatre group, is to hold
its Tenth Annual Festival of Theatre and Dance at the Markham Theatre on
March 09, 2003. The Festival will consist of two shows, at 12:30 pm and
6:00 pm. To meet the huge demand for Manaveli's Festivals among the Canadian
Tamil community outside the GTA region, the Tenth Festival will also be
held on March 29, 2003 at the Humanities Theatre at the University of Waterloo.
The Tenth Annual Festival is sponsored by Peter Joseph (Legal Counsel)
and Ahilan Thanabalasingam (Royal LePage).
As in previous Festivals, the exiled Tamil
world's leading artists will
come together to hold five plays. (Please
refer to the sub-titles of the
five plays in Page Two of this document
for a description of the
plays.)
Since its inception in 1996, Manaveli has
staged thirty one plays, which have been hailed by the Tamil literary world
as path breaking. Manaveli has also introduced well-known English and other
language playwrights, such as Eugene Ionesco, Anton Checkov, Samuel
Beckett, Jean Janet and Vaclav Havel, to the Tamil audience.
Tickets cost $ 12.50 For further details,
or for interview requests, please contact:
Nalina at 416. 439.5059.
E-mail: nalina@manaveli.org
Website: www.manaveli.org
The Five Plays at 2003 Festival
The first performance is Thani Maram (Lone
Tree), in which the classical Tamil dance Bharathanatyam takes a new meaning
and mode. A solitary three hundred year old Cedar tree symbolizes the spirit
of nature. The grand tree bears silent witness to a cruel humanity's gregarious
consumption of earthy resources. The dance is directed and performed by
Malini Pararajasingham, a well known classical dancer.
Thallu Vandikkaararkal is a Tamil adaptation,
by K.S. Balachandran, of the English play 'The Pushcart Peddlers' by New
York playwright Murray Schisgal. First produced in 1979, 'The Pushcart
Peddlers' is a comical look at learning to survive in a new land. In his
Tamil adaptation, K.S. Balachandran has taken the liberty to adapt the
language, names, and references in the play, so that it centres on Tamil
immigrants from Sri Lanka to Canada. This play is directed by Dushy Gnanapragasam.
Dushy has acted in many dramas, both in Canada and Sri Lanka, but this
is his debut as a director.
The third play En Thaththaavukku Oru Kuthirai
Irunthathu (My Grandpa's Horse) is directorial debut for Suganthan, who
has acted in many plays produced by Manaveli. This play is a satirical
treatment of colonial mentalities that still rule many minds of our society.
While carefully dissecting the internalization of colonialism and its manifestations,
the play also exposes our (Tamil) own racist attitudes towards fellow communities.
The play has been scripted by Cheliyan, a poet, writer and playwright,
whose scripts have been staged in both Canada and UK.
'Oor Poukku' (Going Home) is scripted by
Cheran, a well-known face in Tamil literary circles, and directed by K
Navam, who has directed a number of plays. This play is a parody on the
lives and nostalgic
fantasies of the Canadian Tamil diaspora.
It
questions the choices of
dispersed people when peace returns in
their homeland. Would they leave everything in the adopted land, say "Adieu!"
and leave for their
original homeland? Or, would they become
"homeland tourists" by spicing up their nostalgia with recent tours and
visits?
N. Muththusamy, a distinguished writer from
India, has scripted Paakha Pirivinai (Arbitration), which is a satirical
play about the influence exerted by certain powerful nations over developing
countries. The play is directed by R. Sivaratnam, who coordinated the theatre
group, Kaalam.
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