TRIBUTE PAID TO DR. VAYALA VASUDEDVAN PILLAI

TRIBUTE PAID TO

 DR. VAYALA VASUDEDVAN PILLAI

Renowned Kerala theatre personality and three time national award winner Dr. Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, passed away ON 27^th August,2011,after a prolonged illness. He was 67 and leaves behind his wife Valsala, family sources said. Dr Pillai was undergoing treatment for cancer for the past few months and the end came at 2 p.m. at a private hospital He was associated with School of Drama in Thrissur under Calicut University for over two decades and retired as its director in 2005.  A disciple of G. Sankara Pillai, multi-faceted Vasudevan Pillai was active in the theatre scene in the state as a playwright, director and scholar. He is also credited with development of a new spatial concept in modern theatre.

Dr. Vayala was earlier Professor of English at Mar Ivanios college Thiruvananthapuram. A protege of G Sankara Kurup, the first director of school of Drama, Thrissur, Vayala started a theatre group called 'Suvarnarekha' in which artistes like cine actor Jagdeesh and Sreelatha were active members. Suvarnarekha presented over 30 plays which included his own works and European plays. After completing his Masters in English literature and PhD in theatre he took a post-graduate diploma in modern theatre from the University of Rome in 1981. He also received training in Japanese theatre at Meiji University in Tokyo in 1996. Vayala is the author of several plays including Tulasivanam, Agni, Varavelpu, Oru Pakshikkunjinte Maranam, Swarnakokkukal, Kunjichirakukal and Akatharo.... He has also written a historty of Malayalam theatre Malayala Nataka Sahitya Charictram. His first play Viswa Darshanam was published in 1975.

While in Thiruvananthapuram Pillai had floated an avant-garde theatre troupe named `Suvarnarekha,' which staged more than 30 plays. Film star Jagadish, Sreelata and late Alex Kadavil were part of this group. He has also directed around 40 plays including those by Bhasa, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ibsen and Tagore.He is considered an expert on the plays of and artistic life of Irish Playwright J M Synge.He also won the Kendra Sangeetha Natak Akademy and the state Sangeetha Natak Akademy awards for his contributions to theatre. In 1980-81 he was awarded the Italian government's theatre fellowship. 'Rangabhasha', 'Swarnakokkukal' 'Kuchalagaatha', 'Agni', 'Yatra' are among his well known plays. He was also awarded the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademy fellowship this year for drama. The cremation will be held on the banks of Nila river at Cheruthurthy Tuesday.(29^th August 2011)

                                                            Prof. John Kurakar