A little break from the set pattern or an unexpected turn that takes everyone by surprise can be a thing of joy in a game marked by sedate movements. On Friday, the packed crowd at the drama competition for the higher secondary category as part of the 62nd State School Arts Festival, savoured a few such creative bursts which elevated the competition to another level.
Half way through the competition that had 23 teams, it was the troupe from the Government HSS, Kokkallur, Kozhikode, with a performance of playwright Emil Madhavi’s Sahitya Akademi Award winning play Kumaru who was unmistakably ahead of the rest of the competitors. It takes off on a simple premise of society forcing a thief’s son to become a thief and him pining for his lost love. But, in half an hour, the play transforms into a completely different beast, with inventive use of stage properties, including a well filled with water to the brim into which the thief jumps.
