[PhillipHer]

B. JAYASREE:

Her place to play hide and seek was the theatre settings. She would hide in huge trunks meant for costumes. Often the theatre manager Bhavanna carried her on his shoulders, below the stage and with awe she saw how “Sita was swallowed by the Earth” and the equipment- a system of pulleys brought Sita down.
“For me it was athbutha. Thus before joining NSD, I was thorough with the practical” said B. Jayasree, the director of the play, CHITRAPATA, presented by Spandana Bangalore, as part of the National Theatre Festival -2006, at the Karthika Tirunal Theatre. Jayasree belongs to a family of theatre personalities, “the tradition is 106 years old” she said with pride and explained:

“My grand father G V Veeranna, was running Gubi Sree Channa Basaveswara Swami Theatrical Company. As a child I was grooming in a totally different ambience. It was theatre, theatre and only theatre. Later only I realized how serious it is.”


“IN THOSE DAYS thick make up was used. The performers were really concerned about the four and eight anna ticket holders. The aim was to reach them-the real audience. There was no mike system. Dialogues were delivered loudly. Costumes were showy. That was the crude way of presentation. It reminded of Greek Theatre” she said and added,



“It helps me now. My grand father would say, throw a handful of rice, birds would alight. We always selected finer themes, and in spite of instant entertainment available these days, audience gather.”



“My mother Malathamma, started talking late and hence my grand father initially made her dance. My aunt was a good singer. Later both did plenty of serious roles. My grand father took us to several places of interest for observation. Once we went to the red street in Mumbai. Though he was not academically qualified, he had in depth knowledge of theatre” she said.

“The touring troupe consists of 40 members and is weather beaten” she admits.

What is Chitrapata is all about?

“It is a poem authored by the legendary poet Helevenkatti Giri Amma. The story is different form Ramayana, though the characters are Rama, Sitha, Lekshmana, Ravana and Soorpanaka. They speak the language of the lay man. We recognize them only by their names. We entrusted the work to the playwright, Dr. H. S Venkitesh Murthi. He improvised on it to suit the theatre format. I incorporated the folk forms like Bhuderu, of Bidar and Gulberga, Bhoppa-bhoppi of Rajasthan, Kuravanji of Tamil Nadu,ttle bit of odissi and Chau dance. “Rama, the ideal man could not have taken the words of the washer man, about Sita seriously” feels the poetess. Soorpanaka comes to Ayodya as a kuravanji the palm reader to take the revenge.”


In this play we have incorporated various folk forms of India. I am proud that I am an Indian and I have great respect and reverence for our culture” she said. Our next project is Dasavathara. We need rehearsal for six months. Then we intend to paly for six months in Bangalore. If some body comes forward to finance we will we would perform outside Bangalore-she said.