700 YEARS AGO IN SINGAPORE
A Historical Journey
Malay Heritage Centre
6th & 7th April 2017
ABOUT THE PLAY
The play will begin with the picture of an ornament which was found in the Fort Canning Hill excavations (courtesy of National Archives). The picture will be zoom out to the past location and the plays gets rewound from there.
A group of soldiers will be on night sentry duty in the top of the Fort Canning Hill. They will decide to come up with riddles to keep them awake. They will decide to make music with their bows and tell riddle story (ancient art from of Villupattu will be employed here).
After few rounds of riddles, one of the soldier will place a bet of armlet to the person who solves his riddle When the riddle is about to be solved the commander arrives. The soldiers starts to panic. In state of distress, the gold armlet gets tossed and fells into the spot which was never to be found again for many years to come.
CAST MEMBERS
CREATIVE TEAM
DIRECTION ,LYRICS,MUSIC COMPOSITION, DIALOGUES & CONCEPT DESIGN
Rajesh Kannan
ASSIATANT DIRECTORS
Arinn Jaay Kannan
Ava Kannan
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RESEARCH
Rani Kanna
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ART DIRECTION
Menaka Gopalan
Murugan Baskar
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ARTS MANAGEMENT
Vivek Chendhurpandi
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CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Anandha Kannan
COSTUMES
Kalah Rajesh Kannan
Ramiah Kanakham
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LOGISTIC SUPPORT
Appu Pubalan (ARPV Logistics)
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LIGHTS & SOUND
Rajesh Kannan
Thiru TK
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STAGE MANAGER
Ava Kannan
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ADMINISTRATION
Sreedevi G
Selvalakshmi
Srikala
MUSIC
Arinn Jaay Kannan
Mathavan Kalaichelvan
Thiru TK
MAKE – UP
Shajir Khan
Krishnna Kumarri
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PRODUCTION MANAGER
Dhandapani Logeshwaran
Ramiah Kanakham
Thiru TK
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PHOTOGRAPHY
Levin Rajan
VIDEOGRAPHY
Ram C
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SPECIAL THANKS
Malay Heritage Centre
Perumathai
Marimuthu
Thiru Kumara Entertainment
Kalimuthu, The Serangoon CC IAEC
Azhagiya Pandian, Tamil Murasu
Devi, Anandha Koothu Trust
Japhire Gopi Kannan, JA Group of Companies
JK Sara, Tantra Inc
Nallu, STTU
R Chandran, ACT3 Theatrics
Raju, Goodday Impex
Sunil, Liberty Fashion
Venugopal, TLLPC
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Historical Fancy is said to be more appealing than the historical facts. ‘700 years ago in Singapore’ is a challenge born out of such a notion. I hope to provide you with a pleasant experience that you could take back tucked in memories, combined with the feel and tenor of our ancient art form of ‘Villu Pattu’.
While we are renewing everything ancient here, we also want to make sure that it is definitely not going to be a chapter plucked out from a history lesson. As a director, I want to bring out the essence of an experience that happened many years ago in our island. I am huge admirer of the legendary Chola King and of his patronage for Tamil literature, and this play token of tribute to the deep – rooted beauty and charisma of our Tamil language.
Arts is a multi – layered medium and you, our audience are in for a double treat. We are juxtaposing visual arts in the story and literally painting a picture of what could have been. You can observe the synchrony of visual medium graphically illustrated while the performance and story unfolds. As we capture the reflection of our mind, there is a beautiful synergy prevalent all around with our actors creating delight and happiness even in the rehearsal space. They have been amazing with their contributions and quick in grasping the ides and origins of ‘Villu Paatu’.
Our artists range from the age group of 6 to 60 years, all equally young at heart and openly enthusiastic in performing. They took time out from their schedules to dedicate themselves for the success of the play. Special mention is to be made of Menaka, a fine artist. We are pleased with her presence in this project as she brings life to the play and sets the tone and scene to the right momentum. My Sincere thanks to all the artists for becoming a part of the core team and recharging the theatrical atmosphere.
I am sure the audience would love the audio – visual treat set before them. A quote goes “There is no reality, everything is only perception”. So enjoy the experience and savour the perception.
- Rajesh Kannan, Play Director
FROM AK THEATRE LTD
Vanakkam!
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It was just another casual day when we visited the ‘Singapore: 700 Years “Exhibition in National Museum. As we walked into the relics section displaying excavations from Fort Canning Hill. Ad we took in to the images of artifacts and other exhibits, the armlet stood out distinctly from others. Our mind was racing with more questions in line with how Indians Kings had invaded Singapore ages ago. We tried to visualize the minds of these people who walked on our land 700 years ago. Why were they on for canning hill? What could have made them leave this armlet behind? Was it a more accident? Was there more than what meets the eye?
When were open to more challenges and wanted to familiarize our younger generation to the ancient art from musical narration through “Villu Pattu” and riddle theatre. Even in age – old epics, quizzing and ridding were fused in between story narrations. Suppose you are listening to the Ramayana recital, there might pop up a line “the sage who is the friend of the world“. And using language skills and word meanings, you have to interpret the sage’s name as Vishwa+mitra’. We wanted to adopt this element in our play and renew techniques that are brain – stimulating as well as entertaining. We hope you will enjoy this journey with us.
Get set to enter our time – machine and Lets rewind the imagination.
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- Anandha Kannan,
Director, AK Theatre Ltd
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