PORANADI
(the outcast)
Design
and Direction : Chandradasan
Text:
KN Panikker
poetry: K. Satchidanandan
Music
: Sivamohan Thampi
Art Direction: Sidharthan
Duration of the play: 110 mts.
The play tells the story of
a boarder-dispute between the two principalities of kattinamkulam and
kadakkarappally. The ruler of the former, his minister and the three
chieftains-all cowards-are frightened over the frequent battles on the
border. Once a bull attacks the daughter of the king, Rajyasree. While
all flee in fear, including Kamadheeran-the lover of Rajyasree, Pokkan-an
out cast, defense her.
Those in power were startled.
They wanted to get rid of Pokkan. The minister wanted to exterminate
the sin of the people and land by sacrificing Pokkan to the family deity,
and to cure Rajyasree who is possessed by the bull. Pokkan is thus declared
as Poranadi. He is free to do any thing for the next forty one days
prior to the bali. During this period rajyasree comes closer to him.
At the end, the king realizes
his folly and settles for a symbolic sacrifice by cutting an ash gourd.
Pokkan feels insulted for being equated with a vegetable. He is furious.
He wants to sacrifice himself for the liberation of his motherland.
A powerful manifestation of the inner energy of the downcast follows…
Poranadi is an outcaste declared
to be sacrificed. The myth is suggestive and it expose the hypocrisy
of those in power and their heinous means to stick to it. A state derives
its strength not form the upper strata, but from the lowest, however
rude or crude they be.
For the king the bali is only
an anushtana-a ritual, but for Pokkan it is ninam- a bath in blood,
an act of self-dedication.
This presentation tries to
recreate a rustic festive atmosphere in the background of folk lore
by constructing the performance text in local colour with ethnic symbols
and images, folk music choreography, myths and believes and with a stylized
performance language.
The productions cover an entire
open space and eventually the participation of the spectator is anticipated
as in a social ritual. Re-invoking the ferocious ritualistic atmosphere
and through the festive experience the play identifies with the social
anguish of the period. This production joins the enquiry for a visual
language for the new Indian theatre, in form and in content.
a centre for theatre
training, research and performance 
