The storyline never changes, the way its presented changes due to different interpretations.
Content
1. Introduction to Kathakali.
2. Costume and Make-up.
3. The mudra.
4. The 9 basic facial expressions used in Kathakali.
5. Training.
6. The instruments
7. The performance.
8. Bibliography
Introduction to Kathakali
Katha= story Kali= playing
Kathakali= story playing or in other words the playing of a story.
Kathakali dance-drama is a distinctive genre of South Asian performance that developed during the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries in the south-west India which is now known as Kerala state. Kathakali has become internationally known over the past thirty to thirty-five years because troupes have been regularly touring the world as part of government-sponsored international cultural exchanges or through private initiative. Most of these performances have been kathakali’s dance-drama versions of episodes from the Indian epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) or stories from the puranas, which are encyclopedic collections of traditional stories and knowledge.
The performers, musicians, writers, singers and directors are known by the institutions they come from, not their names. Most of the performers who came to give us the workshop came from the Kalanilayam institution and it is located in Irinjalakuala. Another major institution is Kalamanda, which is located more north in Cheruthusuti.
Kala= art nilayam= temple manda= world
Kalanilayam= art temple Kalamanda= world of art.
Three elements within Theatre:
1. Natam: Pure acting (no dance or rhythm/music).
2. Nrithyam: Blend of acting, dance and rhythm/music.
3. Nritham: Pure dance (no acting or rhythm/music)
This is a south-Indian theory about world theory and through further reflection I found that this can in fact be applied to western theatre as the Nrithyam is used in musical theatre as well as Ballet and Natam can be used in Tragic comedy whereas Nritham can to a certain extend be applied in physical theatre.
There are four elements of the enactment of Kathakali:
1. Ahryam: Costumes and make-up.
2. Angikam: which only deals with bodily movements in all their subtle intricacies.
3. Vachyakm: refers to the vocal delivery (done by the singer behind).
4. Sathbivikm: the accurate representation of the entire range of mental and emotional feelings sought to be conveyed by the actor through physical expressions.
“Where the hand goes, there the eyes follow;
Where the eyes go, the mind follows;
Where the mind goes, the mood follows, and
Where the mood goes, there arises the sentiment”
This acting theory detailed by Nandikeswara in his Abninaya darpana, is followed in its entirety in Kathakali acting.
I saw this in the workshop when they were demonstrating the hand gestures using their entire bodily movement because wherever his hand went his eyes followed and it looked as if he was in a trance, which I found very fascinating.
Costumes and Make-up
In Kathakali the characters dealt with are superhuman and semi divine and therefore Kathakali accepted a special imaginative pattern of make-up and costume to project these epic characters. Because of this, the characters are classified into different categories based on their nature and personality and given unique costume and make-up patterns. There are five basic make-up categories and they are known as pacha, katti, kari, tadi and minukku. For the make-up on the face they use; chayilyam (red pigment), manayola (yellow pigment), mashi (a black paste), rice paste, caustic lime, manjapodi (a pink or red powder) and indigo.
In Kathakali the characters wear headgears (kirita-s) and ornaments that are made of wood, carved and gilded and jeweled, with creative use of glass pieces, peacock feather and even the shell of beetles. The size of the crown worn by the actor determines the size of the skirt worn. To make the size of the skirt a number of strips of cloth are worn one over the other, this is called uduttukettu. However all the minukku characters wear special skirts made of folded cloth and they wear uttariyam, which is cloth folded, shaped and with a small round looking glass fixed to it over their shoulders.
The mudra
The mudra is like the ‘basic alphabet’ the actors use to speak the text and therefore in the delivery follow the word order of the story they are telling.
“mushti” is the name of a hand gesture, and the 24 basic hand gestures create an alphabet. Once the performer has learned the basics, their movements become stylized and they use their eyes and body to support the idea expressed. They draw the picture in the air using their gestures and their eyes follow the movement to put emphasis on the movement, for example if they are portraying fire the eyes twitches a lot whilst follow the hand to show the fierceness of the fire. When the animals are presented they are portrayed in their wildlife form not their captived form. I found this fascinating and odd at the same time, the eyes moved very fast and it was impossible to understand how they did it but it made me realize how much training they have to do before they can perform. The fact that the animals are shown in their wildlife form shows how old Kathakali is and that it has not been majorly modified to fit society.
Hastalakshanadeepika is a reference book which the Kathakali mudras come from, and it is writing in samskrit which is the oldest Indian language. It means: the light on the expression of the hand.
The 9 basic facial expressions used in Kathakali
Bhava | Corresponding rasa |
Rati bhava | The erotic, love or pleasure |
Hasa bhava | The comic, mirthful or derision |
Soka bhava | Pathos, sadness |
Krodha bhava | Fury, anger, wrath |
Utsaha bhava | The heroic, vigorous |
Bhaya bhava | Fearm the terrible |
jugupsa bhava | Repulsive, disgust |
vismaya bhava | Wondrousu, marvelous |
Sama bhava | Peace, at-onement |
Training
To become a reasonably good actor you need atleast 12 years of unbroken training and the best period of training the pupil is between the ages of 12 to 15. The pupil lives with his guru or teacher. Pupils with well built bodies and a taste for acting are slected, they go to the kalari (the centre of training) and give an offering to the guru. The guru blesses him and presents him with a four and a half metres long and twenty centimetres wide cloth. The pupil wraps it around himself according to the instructions of the teacher.
In the workshop we attended they told us how their daily routine went at Kalanilayam.
· The practice sessions start at 4.30 am everyday.
· First they put Ghee (natural cow fat) in their eyes, and then they start their eye exercises for half an hour.
Whilst doing this they hold their eyes open with their fingers.
They start crying because they are exercising the eye muscles which squeezes the tear glands, not because it hurts.
· Second they apply oil to their bodies.
· They then start their body exercises: it is split into upper and lower body exercises. All their jumps are stylized even the warm-up exercise jumps.
The leg exercises are done with rhythms which gradually increases, this also prepares them for the rhythm exercises later.
· You need a high stamina because the shows are 3-4 hours long and the costumes are heavy.
The eye exercises looked very bizarre when just looking at them but when I attempted to do it I realized how hard it is as my eyes started watering and itching. I gained more respect for them because I realized how much training you have to put into this style of theatre and how hard all their exercises are. When I looked at the warm-up exercises they looked easy and smooth but as we attempted to do them I saw that it was very hard because of the core strength, balance and flexibility required. When they were doing their leg exercises they hit the floor with the outside of their foot so they don’t get the shock up through their body and I found out that (zarrilli) (Venu) (Phillip b Zarrilli) when you clap the rhythm you keep the slow rhythm you started with, you don’t follow the increasing speed, to understand where it ends.
When the pure dance training, which takes two years, is completed, training to act the part of various characters begins. After practicing that for about four to five years, the pupils follow the teacher to witness actual performances and are given minor parts to enact and thereby gaining practical experience.
The Instruments
The instruments are heavy and so the men who are playing them have to be strong and have a high stamina as they are holding them (standing) throughout the performance which is 3-4 hours long. They approximately practice for 15-20 years before becoming professionals and performing in shows.
The chenda weighs 9 kg and is held on one shoulder. It is made of cylindrical wood and both the ends are covered, usually in cowskin, and it is played with two wooden sticks. (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2010)
The Maddalan weighs 22 kg and is carried on the hip. It is made of solid wood and has leather straps across it which are as hard as metal and they are made by hand. On the musicians right hand they have a fingerpiece which is made of rice moulded together to the form of your thumb and the two sides of the Maddalan make two very different sounds.
The performance
In traditional style performances were conducted in the open specious compounnds of temples. However now-a-days a slightly raised platform is made with a roofing for it. The stage is called arangu. On the stage they only need a couple of stools and the curtain. A big lamp about four feet tall is filled with coconut oil and the stout wicks provided are lit, this is what provides lighting for the show. The main acting area is just behind the lamp, but when fighting scenes and similar events are enacted, the actors run about among the audience through the temple precinct.
The stage of Kathakali never changes it always stays the same! The right singer is the lead singer (ponani) and the left singer is the minor singer (sinkidi). “Kathakali music has developed into a distinctive type of singing known as the sopana style. There is neither raga nor any elaborations like niraval or swaral singing.” (Nair, 2007)
Courtney, D. a. (2011, 01 04). Kathakali. Retrieved from Chandrakantha: http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/nritya/kathakali.html
maddalam. (n.d.). Retrieved from keralavadyakala: http://keralavadyakala.com/index.php?id=29
Nair, C. (2007, 12 22). Kathakali, Indian Classical Dance. Retrieved from Indiannetzone: http://www.indianetzone.com/1/kathakali.htm
Phillip b Zarrilli, B. M. Theatre histories.
Venu, G. The language of Kathakali.
wikimeadia. (2010, 12 27). Kochi kathakali. Retrieved from wikimedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kochi_Kathakali_4.JPG
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2010, 11 04). Chenda. Retrieved from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenda
zarrilli, P. b. Kathakali dance-drama - where gods and demons come to play.
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