Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

http://www.phillipzarrilli.com/productions/drunkenmonk/index.html

The Story, its background, and the order of performance:

Preliminary Dance
performed by the entire performance ensemble.

Prologue
Featuring the Director of the theatre company staging the evening's
performance, and the senior Actress of the company, the Prologue is a
traditional part of all Sanskrit dramas enacting a `play-within-the
play'. It is structured to introduce and reflect—humorously in a
farce-- the overall plot of the drama proper.
The Director (Sutradhara) Stella Subbiah.
Senior Actress Mira Gokul
The Actor (who `purifies/blesses' the stage) Narendran Thody

The play proper (a brief summary): follows the drunken sport of an
unorthodox, wandering holy man—known as a Kapali—who is a devotee of
Lord Siva, and his female partner, Devasoma, who is his constant
companion. As members of a radical and highly unorthodox sect known as
Kapalikas, their `rites' included drinking, wild dancing, singing, and
ritual intercourse with their partners. Their `home' was traditionally
the cremation grounds where they smeared the ashes of the dead over
their bodies. Most important to their identity as a sect, was the fact
that they used the bowl-like fragment of the upper part of a human
skull as an alms-bowl when they went begging. The word for `skull' in
Sanskrit is kapala—thus the sect, and our main character, is known as
a Kapali. The plot of the farce revolves around the loss and
eventually recovering of the skull-bowl, so precious to the Kapali and
his partner, Devasoma. Like all such mendicants, they are in a
constant search for `alms'—in their case, liquor, which will keep them
in a state of ecstatic devotion.

Section 1
The Kapali and Devasoma enter in a state of drunkenness. The Kapali
drunkenly mixes up his partner, Devosoma's name, with Somadeva—the
name of the goddess of liquor! Devasoma asks the Kapali if he can
clarify for her who, precisely, he `is'.
The Kapali Narendra Gundurao
Devosoma Vidya Thirnarayan

Section 2
As she continues to drink from their skull-bowl, she begins to see
double—are there now two Kapalis, or even more?
The Second or `Double' Kapali Narendran Thody

Section 3
In their search for additional alms, they decide to travel (Section 3)
to the great capital city of Kanchipuram where there are many taverns.
After the great city is introduced (through dance), two women of the
city greet the Kapali and Devasoma, taking them to a tavern/temple
where they can `worship' Lord Siva in front of the lingam. The couple
become increasingly drunk and eventually pass out. A Buddhist monk and
a mad-dog encounter the two in their stupor. When they awake, the
Kapali discovers that his precious skull-bowl is missing! After
searching for it, he declares that the Buddhist monk must have stolen it.
Buddhist Monk (Nagasena) Narendra Thody
The Mad-Dog Mira Gokul

Section 4
The Buddhist monk enters with a dance. Discovered by the Kapali and
Devasoma, they (mistakenly) accuse him of stealing their skull-bowl,
and a chase begins. The Buddhist monk, whose alms bowl he has kept
hidden according to the custom of his sect, is finally so disgusted
with the antics of the Kapalikas that he simply gives them his own
alms bowl—but it is not their skull bowl.

Section 5
The mad-dog enters with the skull-bowl in his mouth! The dog finally
drops the skull-bowl, bringing a happy resolution to the farce.

Concluding Dance
the ensemble.

Production/Programme Notes by Phillip Zarrilli

Opened February 14, 2003 and all-UK tour through November, 2003.
Performed at Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, National Theatre
(London). Funded by Arts Council of England project grant to Sangalpam.