The Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam, or Kattaikkuttu Youth Theatre School, provides a group of thirty rural, underprivileged children the possibility to combine traditional, in-depth training in the Kattaikkuttu theatre with basic education. The school encourages its students to explore their own artistic and intellectual abilities and to turn them into professional skills. This is the first time that girls participate in professional Kattaikkuttu training.
On the occasion of the Kuttu Festival 2005 the young students of the school (5-15 years) will perform three novel plays written by their principal Kattaikkuttu teacher and director, Perungattur P. Rajagopal.
1 hr 10 mins The play focuses on young audiences whose members often find it difficult to relate to the complex epic and puranic stories of the traditional Kattaikkuttu repertoire. The Magic Horse is about communication and power (“sakti”). It narrates the unexpected encounter between two school children and two aliens who have lost their sakti. In an attempt to recover this quality, the aliens and the children seek help from animals and men, but finally it is the clown who shows them - unknowingly - the way to regain their power. Designed as a children's play, the emphasis is on a visually attractive presentation, songs and a simple dialogue. Yet the different layers in the story offer a message also to grown-ups who may interpret it in their own way(s). The play-script of The Magic Horse will be published in India as a children's book.
Performers Mandodari, school girl from the village Mandaarai - V. Bhavani
The Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam
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