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        It is more than a cultural odyssey for the six-member Caldeirao group, a theatre company from Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, to visit Chennai for staging plays in collaboration with Koothu-p-Pattarai.
 

Sao Paulo-based Caldeirao group led by Professor Edilson Castanheira and actress Irani Cippiciani at the Koothu-p-Pattarai campus at Chinmaya Nagar. Also seen is playwright Na Muthusamy Photo: B Anand

 With excitement in their eyes, the Brazilian artistes are yet to come to terms with the cultural diversity of India, its colourful people and a multilingual society. 'Last year, when I stayed at Koothu-p-Pattari to learn about their unique art form under the UNESCO bursary, I got so interested and had decided to bring the Caldeirao group through the Cultural Exchange initiative of the Brazilian government,' says Irani Cippiciani, the lead actress of the theatre company.

        She is the only member of the Brazilian team fluent in English, while the rest have to do with her translations into Portuguese, the native language of that country. Professor Edilson Castanheira, the troupe director who teaches at Espaco Cultural Caldeirao and Educandario Dom Duarte, Sao Paulo, informs that they have learnt new techniques like drum beats and silambam (fighting with long sticks) that are popular with ancient Tamils through Koothu-p-Pattari, the troupe formed by writer Na Muthusamy 30 years ago to reinvent the popular street plays of Tamilnadu. 'In turn, we have taught a range of Brazilian folk dance and music for the local artistes to enrich their repertoire,' he says.

        Having arrived in Chennai (6 March), they have been staying at the campus of Koothu-p-Pattarai located at a secluded area in Chinmaya Nagar. 'We are busy rehearsing our plays that are being staged at the open auditorium of the campus in the weekends. Also, we are doing a joint production with Tamil artistes called The Small Retable of Don Cristobal, a Brazilian play written by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, which needs lot of practice between culturally different artistes,' Castanheira says.

        In between their weekend plays, the Brazilians have visited Mammallapuram, Puducherry and Kancheepuram and they simply don't have words to describe these places. 'What we are experiencing is quite amazing. There is so much diversity among Tamils and their language is rich and vibrant. The experience is still fresh in our memory and hence difficult to explain things in a cogent manner,' explains Cippiciani and Castanheira. Others too nod in approval with warm smiles of appreciation.

        But Irani Cippiciani who is also a Bharatanatyam exponent is very much aware of the bewildering diversity in India as she had stayed in Chennai for nearly three months last year. 'We have plans to visit Madurai, Kanyakumari and Kodaikanal before we board the planes to Sao Paulo on 28 April. We are thankful to Ministry of Culture of the Brazilian government for arranging our Chennai visit,' she says. Apart from being a reputed actress, she undertakes a variety of responsibilities in the Caldeirao group like being a shadow puppeteer and taking care of its public relations as she is fluent in English.

        During weekends, the open theatre on Vaikasi Street at Chinmaya Nagar will have to do with surging crowds and eager onlookers for their plays. 'To mark a departure, we will be staging a play that has rich tales from Hindu mythology at Natesan Nagar Park, near Chinmaya Nagar, on Thursday (12 April) for the public to know about us,' she informs.

        Giving a new perspective, Muthusamy, founder-director, Koothu-p-Pattarai, explains though Brazil though is much bigger than India, the people over there speak only Portuguese and there is not much cultural diversity among Brazilians, the predominant community in South America. 'Hence, they find a metro-city like Chennai with such diverse people and culture a new experience for them,' he says.

        But unlike the Culture Ministry in Brazil, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is not coming forward to sponsor foreign trips for Indian theatre groups as part of an exchange programme, Muthusamy laments. Well, one has to ask if the Delhi-based ICCR has heard of a popular troupe like Koothu-p-Pattarai in the first place?