Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2010: Vemana - Telugu Play: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR ABHINAYA NATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL...

The stage is all lit up today, but whether with the galaxy of theatre stars on it, or with the portrayal of one of Telugu literature's legends, is something that's best discovered in person.

The Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly magazine, in association with the AP State Film, TV & Theatre Development Corporation, the Department of Culture of the AP Government, and the South Zone Cultural Centre (Thanjavur), is organising the Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2010, from 16th to 19th August, at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium.

5 stage plays and 2 street plays from various parts of the country will be staged during the 4-day festival.

"Vemana", a Telugu play, will be staged by Sri Satya Sai Kalaniketan, on the first day. Written by Burra Subrahmanya Sastry and directed by Gummadi Gopalakrishna, the play features several experienced stage actors - Gummadi Gopalakrishna, Salvachari, Malladi Gopalakrishna, Satyanarayana Raju, Venu, Sudhakar Babu Karunakar, P V Subba Rao, Ramakrishna Sastry, Malladi Bhaskar, Pundari, Surabhi Prabhavati and Srilakshmi.

Vemana was a 14th century Telugu poet who composed numerous poems in Telugu in the Aata Veladhi metre, which consists of 4 lines. They end with the signature line "Viswadaabhi Raama Vinura Vema", meaning, "Beloved of Vishwadha, listen Vema".

Vemana's poems were collected and published by C P Brown in the 19th century. His poems are social, moral, satirical and mystical in nature. They deal with social problems, and sometimes propose solutions, too. He has written over 100 of them, and they are together called "Vemana Satakam".

Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly was founded in the 2004 by Gadde Srinivas, a theatre artiste. Srinivas holds a diploma in theater arts. Quitting his lucrative profession in Telugu movies, he started Abhinaya, a first-of-its-kind magazine in India dedicated exclusively to theatre.

He organises many events throughout the year, like the State Theatre Festival in Guntur, and Padya Nataka Festival and Nataka Rachana Poteelu in Hyderabad.

Please contact G Srinivas at 93911-11622 for further details.