Background:
- Drama, music , dance , costumes, and makeup
- Universal struggle is conveyed in the performance between ‘Good vs Evil’
- Window into the past and to understand the different traditions that have bene preserved within the culture of Southern India
- Traditional stories were told using dance and passed along generations to be performed within the heart of the community
- Originated in Southern India Kerala between 16th and 17th century
- Kathakali (“story play”) is a form of dance drama originating from Kerala
- According to tradition, there are 101 classical Kathakali stories, although fewer than a third are performed on stage now
- The story is enacted purely by the movements of the hands (mudras), facial expressions (rasas) and body movements – there are 24 basic mudras. Some characters adorn their left fingers with long steel or silver nails to enhance the clarity of the hand gestures
- Actors wear a white facial border, or chutti, made of thick drawing sheets to focus attention on the inner face and eyes. Until the 1960s these were made from rice paper
- Kerala has five other significant theatre traditions – Kutiyattam, and its allied forms Nangiarkoothu, Chakyarkoothu, Krishnanattam and Mohiniyattam
- Kathakali is influenced by Hindu prayer rituals, like the Theyyam (pictured above), some thought to be around 2,000 years old
- 2000 years ago Bharatha Muni wrote the Natyasastra [the science of acting], this became the the academic guideline for Kathakali
- The characters were inspired by the sculptures on temples in Southern India that were depictions of gods and goddesses
- The symbolic stories were memorized by the priest and preserved among the generations this way
- Unlocked the mystery of the sanskrit poems and made them accessible to the wider community
- Taught in old boarding schools by teacher or Ashan
- Two singers to invoke hamony – Pooni Karan and Sindi Karana.
- The chengila [cymbols] to provide the Tala – beat.
- The Chenda – a powerful drum originally used in temple rituals and to accompany the Thol Pava Kuttu puppets.
- The Thiranukuu – a method of introducing the characters in the play from behind a large satin curtain, called a Tereshiela, held at the front of the stage.
- The Kalluvazhi Chitta style of Kathakali is distinct in the eye and feet movements. The dancer keeps their weight on the side of their feet, with the small toes bent, so that the strong steps don’t cause a rush of blood to the head
- Pacha – green – heroic
- Katti – green with some red signifying a fallen hero.
- Tadi – red & black beards are evil.
- Tadi – white beard is Hannuman
- Katalan – forest dweller
- Minnikku – radiant – female characters, brahmins
- specials such as Narasymham – lion