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A Fine presentation

The play `Srikrishna Rayabaramu’ had good performances



Seeking help Duryodhana and Arjuna seek Lord Krishna’s help in the play Srikrishna Rayabaramu.

The Mahabharata plays written by twin poets Diwakarla Tirupati Sastry and Chellapilla Venkata Sastry (who later came to be known as Tirupati Venkata Kavulu) enjoy patronage of a wide audience across the state. Gummadi Gopalakrishna presided over the staging of Srikrishna Rayabaram last week at the open air theatre of the Ashok Nagar central library. The play had some good artistes, mostly amateurs, but capable of intense performances. The abridged version of presentation to suit the modern times, has three important acts - the Dwaraka scene, which is also known as Sayana Mandiram (bedroom) scene, as Arjuna and Duryodhana are shown approaching Krishna to seek favours, when Krishna is resting in his bedroom. Then was Upaplavyam scene, where the pandavas tell Srikrishna as to how he should bargain peace in the Kaurava court and then the final court scene presided over by Drutharashtra. This last scene was the climax scene and the artistes impressed with their performances.

Sri Chodeswara Natya Kala Mandali of Guntur district presented the show. The Sayana Mandira Drusyam made good initial impact with the presence of T.Nagireddi in Srikrishna’s role. K.Poorna Chandra Rao as Duryodhana and Chandramouleeswara Reddy as Arjuna also acquitted themselves well. And, it had some memorable verses like Adugo Dwaraka. The two war lords leave the place with Krishna promising Arjuna that he will be on his side as his charioteer but will not wieldany weapon and then gives away his entire army to Duryodhana to the latter’s utter dismay.

The artistes playing Krishna and Arjuna impressed with verse rendition. In the final Rayabaram scene, Krishna’s role simply dominated and the rendition of verses arrested the audience attention. Others who were in the cast were: M.S.R.Anjaneya Sarma as Karna, K.V. Madhusudana Rao as Dhrutarashtra, Malladi Bhasker as Bhishma, Poorna Chandra Rao as Duryodhana.