G Selva

G Selvananthan (Selva), Artistic Director

Mr G Selvananthan (Selva) started off as an actor in the 1980s and soon progressed to writing and directing his own plays. He has acted and directed numerous Tamil and English theatre productions for Ravindran Drama Group in Singapore and several more in Melbourne Australia under the banner of Avant Theatre & Language, a Melbourne based Drama Company. Selva graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Class-Honours) majoring in Media Arts and Drama from Deakin University, Melbourne with the support from National Arts Council, Singapore in 2005.

Selva is not a new comer to stage or to the film industry as he was awarded the Most Popular Celebrity award by Singapore’s Media Corp Television’s Vasantham Central in April 2001. His accolades include receiving the Distinguished Artist Award from the President of Singapore, His Excellency S R Nathan in 2000. He was also nominated for Best Actor Award at the 1997 ‘Pesta Pradhana’ award ceremony by Singapore Television 12 Network for acting in the first ever-Tamil sitcom in Singapore “Amali Thumali".

Selva's expertise does not stop at being just an actor, director and playwright but also extends to being an Indian classical dancer where his dance exposure was initiated from Apsaras Arts Singapore where he studied under the tutelage of Mrs Neila Sathyalingam. Selva’s experience in Indian Classical Dance, Bharathanatyam and contemporary Indian Dance motivated him to explore theatre by incorporating aesthetics from Indian art and culture at large. He seeks to heighten theatrical emotions by staging plays with co-ordinated or choreographed movement and abstract text. His plays dealt with tabooed and controversial issues such as divorce, transsexual, incest, homophobia and lesbianism and women’s issues which the press reported as groundbreaking and breaking new barriers.

Selva uses modern theatre styles, movements and techniques to innovatively conceptualised and present his thoughts and ideas. His play, ’Akka (Sister) in 1990, which he wrote and acted, “would certainly raise a few eyebrows. It is a didactic piece on transsexuals, a subject that is rarely dealt with in Tamil theatre circles.’ (Rhama Sankaran, The Straits Times, 1990).

During his tenure in RDG before the 2001, he had made many attempts to present plays in collaboration with other organisations and freelance artists in Singapore. He attempted for the first time in 1995 to work with a well-known local writer and teacher, Mr P Kesavan and devised with him, ‘Kullukku Maami’ (Miss Matchmaker) a comical satire that highlighted the idiosyncrasies of Indian youths when they are looking for a life partner. This play directed by Selva explored some of the ridiculous beliefs and practices in the Indian community.

Following this he had also worked with the Singapore Indian Self Help group (SINDA) on social problems that were affecting the local Tamil community. Selva directed the first part of the trilogy known as ‘Suvargalukkul Theerpu’ (Verdict within Walls) in 1995. The play was well received by the audience and it placed RDG on a good stead in its attempt to cater to the social needs of the community.

Selva next big breakthrough on stage was in 1999, where he worked with Mr Pichinikaadu Elango, a renowned literary poet, from the Singapore writers’ Association, to adapt and to reprise a Tamil love epic, ‘Ambigapathy’. It was the first breakthrough for Ravindran Drama Group in staging a full-length literary piece ‘Pathy Vathy A love…’. The play staged with modern conventions incorporating many elements of Indian Arts and culture and presented in poetic literary Tamil was acclaimed to have given hope in preserving language and art. It was the ‘first time a drama group was attempting a literary piece based on, ‘Ambigapathy and Amaravathy’ which is a school syllabus taught in school at “A” levels’. (Kavitha Karum, Tamil Murasu, 12 Dec 1999) To Selva, the idea of using literature, poetry, Indian arts and culture in this plays affirms his sense of ethnic identity and belonging.

The last play Selva directed before he took a break to pursue his degree in Media and Theatre education in Australia was a triple bill in English. Price, Ignored or Ignorance and Lamenting. All three plays dealt with issues of homosexuality, lesbianism, AIDS and women’s oppression. All three stories were based on the Indian background. The play was presented in English, to reach out to wider audience who could get a taste of Indian culture and lifestyle. The press termed this effort as ‘Pushing the boundaries of Tamil theatre in its thematic concerns and styles in this triple bill English play with a talented Tamil – speaking cast’ (Straits Times, Lim Cheng Tju, 7 Nov 2000).

Selva initial theatre exposure from 1998 to 2001 has helped him grow as an artist both aesthetically and also in terms of tackling social issues more boldly. He did not confine himself because of the performance boundaries in Singapore but worked within constrains, finding confidence and challenges in presenting his performance.

In Melbourne from the period 2001 to 2006 Selva had many opportunities to perform and create performance for major festivals and international shows. He could experience the life of a full time artiste and devoted his time and energy towards creating Asian issue and theme performances for western audience. He created a niche in such experimentation where he was exploring the tolerance, boundaries and techniques he acquired in his course of learning the western theatre nuances. Some of the performance styles he explored like the Suzuki Training, Butoh movements, Grotesque theatre, Inter and intercultural performance using experimental and unconventional performance techniques. Western dance like jazz, ballad, Hip hop and vocal extension training were a syllabus that was needed to explore Musical in theatre, which landed him as a distinguished resident judge Singapore dance competition showcased on Mediacorp Vasantham Centrals, “DHOOL”.(2004 & 2006 seasons) Selva critical approach and outlook for the dance aesthetic growth among youth in Singapore were much talked about.

He also worked closely in propagating the interest in Asian values and exposure to Asian lifestyle during his workshop with many students under CERES. Not forgetting his affiliation to his Singapore Tamil Theatre, he made arrangements for Ravindran Drama Group in 1991 to perform in Melbourne in Monash Theatre which was an eye opener for many Melbourne audiences to experience Singapore style plays both in Tamil with surtitles and in English.

Selva has returned after his studies with the right attitude and the knowledge required to see Ravindran Drama group through to its next level of performance making. One of his goals is to groom and nurture the next generation of performance makers who will take theatre seriously and pursue it academically and professionally creating a strong pool of theatre enthusiast in Singapore. He was invited to take on the role as the Artistic Director of Ravindran Drama Group effective 2007.

In 2007, Selva has redefined the RDG logo for better representation of the group. He also re-drafted the mission and goals for the group in view of the group's current outlook. Two prestigious collaborative works were also initiated in 2007, one with Apsaras Art with, ’Sivagami’ a theatre dance production and the other with Miror theatre with its ‘Thondan’ production. Arangam 07 was organised to serve as a platform to nurture the new talents for Tamil theatre and to induce theatre interest among the inter-tertiary students.

To bring together Tamil theatre enthusiasts, the current practitioners and theatre supporters, a round table discussion was organised in 2007, which documented interesting views and recommendations by the panel members for the sustenance of Tamil theatre in Singapore. Next was a showcase of new works through the “Puthiya Uthiram’ platform was created. This initiative provided avenues for the new generation of theatre makers to showcase their passion and devotion for the theatre craft through two productions ‘Anji’ and ‘Kurugiya Vattam’. Apart from these events many other workshops and dialogue sessions also took place under Selva tenure in RDG as its artistic director.

Selva is currently spearheading the RDG’s 20th Anniversary celebration, stretching throughout 2008. The celebration kicked off with Arangam 08 – an inter tertiary Tamil drama competition held at Jurong Junior College. The event saw a roaring support from the four generation of RDG members, together with theatre supporters from various institutions. RDG’s 20th anniversary logo and calendar of events video, was displayed to the audience. Highlight of the launch was the 20 cake cutting ceremony by all the members of RDG.

In an effort induce theatre interest among non Tamil speaking Indians and to widespread the Indian culture and lifestyle Selva strives to stage at least one English production per year in RDG’s Banner. As such Pandavas, a compilation of episodes from the great epic Mahabharata was presented in English. Pandavas was received well and has intrigued many others to read further.

RDG’s landmark or Magnum opus mammoth stage production is Taj Mahal, a collaborative effort in bringing the best on stage working with various prestigious institutions was directed by Selva. This is a tremendous effort which is truly a sign of good artiste camaraderie and synergy among the Singapore Indian arts organisation, that received standing ovation initiated by Senior Minister S Iswaran, where he commends, “Ravindran Drama Group’s artistic director and the director of Taj Mahal, Mr. G Selva, has led the group with passion to achieve its artistic objectives. The joy of theatre can be shared only if fuelled by passion”. (Taj Mahal Programme booklet, Minister’s Message, 4 Jul 2008) His Excellency, Ambassador K Kesavapany, comments, “...thank you for the treat. It was indeed a wonderful show, with great acting, good music and superb costumes”. (Email letter dated 7th July 2008)

Selva believes that art can serve as the antennae of our society, tuned into the next social change that needs to be made. Collectively, we need to lift art out of its second-class role as entertainment, diversion or hobby, and raise it to be an instrument for transformation.