Theatre Marina’s play ‘Anniyal’ staged at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore. | Photo courtesy: Srinath M
Theater Marina AnnualThis play staged at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is a Tamil adaptation of Girish Karnad’s play (directed by Giridharan) Odakalu Bimba (broken images) Annual This shows how carefully the images we present to people about ourselves are crafted, and are not the real us. But these images are fragile and can be broken when the quiet little voice inside us gets activated, as happened with Anjali AnnualThe play had just one actress – Latha Venkat – playing the role of Anjali, a successful writer who writes novels in English. The play highlights the arrogant attitude of the intellectual class who hates vernacular books but loves English books.
Anjali, who has a book of Tamil short stories to her credit, says a writer in Tamil is paid so little that she cannot even make a sambar with that money. But, for her English story, the publishers have given her such a hefty advance that she has resigned from her job as a lecturer. However, Anjali is not the author of the novel. She has stolen the story of her dead disabled sister Aarti and presented it as her own.
The play begins with a smug Anjali answering questions from her readers on a TV programme. She lies blatantly, sheds tears over Aarti’s plight and brags about her linguistic prowess.
Theater Marina Annual Staged at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mylapore. | Photo courtesy: Srinath M
But when the TV program ends, she imagines that it is Aarti’s image on the screen. Aarti destroys every excuse she makes for her infidelity. Anjali cannot get rid of Aarti’s image, which she knows will be imprinted on her every time she picks up her book and on every check she receives as royalties. With her husband who has walked away from her and her conscience haunting her, Anjali’s confidence is shattered.
Latha has brilliantly portrayed Anjali’s transformation from a confident writer to a guilt-ridden sister with a dark secret. G.P.R. Prasanna and R. Giridharan have written a very good script.
