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| To the lush green of Kerala belongs Kathakali, a powerful dance-drama which captures the courage of heroic kings and the cunning of evil characters. Its elaborate and colourful facial make-up takes upto six hours to prepare : green is for heroic characters like Rama and Krishna; black for evil characters like Putana and the bearded countenance depicts Hanuman and Bheema. Traditionally, only men perform Kathakali, undertaking the role of women too. Their training includes elaborate eye exercises, body massage and diet control. Kathakali is based mostly on mythology and the themes of Rama and Krishna. It is performed in the precincts of the temple and is episodic in character, with a single story stretching to several consecutive nights of performance. Loud drum playing invites audiences from neighbouring villages. As a distinct form, Kathakali evolved from Krishnattam, Ramanattam, Koodiyattam, Mudeyyetu and Teyyam. At the hands of the poet Vallathol, it received a shot in the arm in the creation of the institution called Kalamandalam. Some well-known exponents of Kathakali are Guru Gopinath, Guru Krishnan Nair, Gopi of Kalamandalam and Sadanam Balakrishnan. Kathakali distinctly emerged in its present form about 300 years back and means story play. Kathakali plays are based upon Indian epics such as Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas. The verse text for Kathakali piece is called 'attakatha'. This art demands complete control over every part of the body. The dancers adorn themselves in huge skirts and elaborate masks, wearing a most intricate style of make-up and costumes. The actor expresses himself through highly complicated mudras, closely following the text being sung. The splendour of the costumes, ornament and especially the facial make-up are absolutely striking. Traditionally this is an all-male dance form. There are 3 groups - actor-dancers, vocalists and percussionists, in a Kathakali performance. The actor-dancers play a variety of roles including kings, gods, demons, heroines, animals, priests, etc. Each role has a particular style of makeup and costume as its code. Hand gestures or mudras along with extensive use of facial expressions and eye movements are used by the actors to convey their dialogs to the audience. The instruments consist of cymbals and 3 types of drums - cena, edakka and maddalam with each of the drum producing a distinct sound. Kathakali recitals are generally long and the dance forms are more emotive than narrative. The performance begins after sunset and continues till late in the night, sometimes it takes even the whole night for one performance. Some of the exponents of this dance form are Sadanam Balakrishnan and Padmanabhan Nayar. Quite a few things ensure that 'the seed of tragedy' is not just another adaptation of a Shakespearean masterpiece on the Kathakali stage. Restrained innovation on costumes, theatric novelties adding colour to the nature of some of its characters and choreography set to lesser-known rhythmic patterns are some features that stand out when the Bard's Macbeth finds stage in the form of Kerala's 400-year-old classical dance-drama. Limiting its thematic content to the part where guilt manifests in varied forms in Macbeth and his wife after the murder of King Duncan, 'the seed of tragedy' was staged here in six scenes by the capital based International Centre for Kathakali (ICK) recently. "This has been our second project based on a Shakespearean work since 'Othello' was staged in 1996," says ICK principal Sadanam Balakrishnan, who has conceived the two hour work and penned its lyrics, besides handling the choreography section in consultation with performing arts scholar Akavoor Naryanan. The opening scene of the play itself gives a hint that what is in store is not just a translation of the story details to the grammar of Kathakali, instead infusing a different sensibility that the puritan connoisseur may find a bit strange. The three witches, who predict the luck element in the future of King Duncan's trusted generals Macbeth and Banquo, are seen on the dais as weird versions of the typical 'kari vesham' (dark coloured character). Their costumes are predominantly black but the faces are painted mostly in yellow, lending them an appearance of being more mystical (and less comical, which kari veshams' generally are). The way the trio makes its appearance on the stage is in itself indicative of the subtle yet strong manner in which they would decide the turn of events to follow. The three witches are unveiled before the spectators as dancing creatures emerging from the two 'thirasheelas' (curtain clothes) held adjacent to each other, instead of customary single one. "I thought that (using two curtain clothes)would add an element of intrigue about the very existence of the witches," observes the octogenarian Guru Keezhpadam Kumaran Nair. The play proceeds smoothly with Macbeth turning greedy after getting promoted as the Lord of Cawdor and hatches plans to assassinate the King on the lines of the conspiracy mooted by Lady Macbeth. Macbeth's 'aatam' (performance in mime form) in a trance-like state has been choreographed in the rare 'marma taalam' (a rhythmic cycle of 14 beats) towards the fag end of the play. "That has been done with a view to get the audience a feel of the eerie air around Macbeth at that point of time," says Dr Narayanan, a retired professor from the Delhi University. "Overall, I think the music has come out well in the play," he adds. Sadanam Radhakrishnan, the main singer, concurs. "We have not tried out any raga Kathakali is unfamiliar with. The usual gandharam, saurashtram and surutti. Yet, the songs are refreshing." The middle aged Evoor Rajendran Pillai, an ICK staffer who plays Macbeth, said he had three months of rehearsals since the new project was taken up intensively. His young colleague, Sadanam Sreenathan dons the role of Lady Macbeth. Kalamandalam Unnikrishnan (chenda) and Sadanam Murukajyoti (maddalam) are the major percussionists while Kalamandalam Kunhikrishnan and Sivadas are the makeup men. |
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