Beating the lockdown blues, this ancient Tamil theatre goes digital

The artistes performing 'Therukoothu', the ancient Tamil theatre are now live streaming their shows on the digital platform. This foray into digital space has also given a new lease of life to the dying traditional art forms.

Namakkal(TN): For the first time ever a 'Therukoothu' performance was live-streamed recently on the digital platform. The traditional art form of the ancient Tamil theatre shows the birth of legend Bhishma from the Mahabharata.

It was the initiative of a group of young artistes from Elachipalayam, a small town in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu.

The need to explore alternative avenues in the time of the corona pandemic, which has robbed them of their livelihood, has turned them to make use of social media platforms to reach out to a wider audience.

Temples are closed for more than four months at a stretch in view of the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic. The folk artists could neither perform nor earn for a living in the festive season. However, an attempt has been made to make use of digital space from Elachipalayam, home to more than 60 families of 'Therukoothu' artistes.

"For anyone interested to watch a Therukoothu performance, the registration fee is Rs 50 and our the first venture elicited a good response. It was encouraging. We have started a forum, Subiksham, to carry out this. We advertise through social media about our programme. Through this we get an audience throughout the world," said V Ram, an artist himself.

The digital space helps preserve our traditional art forms from extinction, said Dinesh and Venkatesh, who are graduates in performing arts.

'Koothu', the ancient form of Tamil theatre even prior to the advent of the Common Era, is also called as 'Therukoothu' since it is performed on the streets of the village.

Ram said: "For a Therukoothu performance during a temple festival in a village we used to get around Rs 28,000 which would be shared by the 15 to 20 artistes."

“The lockdown has opened up a new avenue for us and we would continue to live stream our plays online. It is a novel initiative and we hope that it would get the required support,” he added.

The youngsters, who have learnt the art form, have taken the lead in exploring the digital space to carry the traditional theatre to newer segments through live streaming on social media.