Rare staging of ancient Indian dance drama
Art form dating back 2,200 years originally performed only in temples
The Ragamala Music Society of Calgary is offering the rarest of opportunities to see one of the oldest forms of theatre.
Koodiyattam, which dates back more than 2,200 years, is a form of ancient Sanskrit theatre preserved for centuries by the temples in the state of Kerala in India.
Sudha Menon, vice-president of Ragamala Music Society, says the performance in Eckhardt- Grammatte Hall in the University of Calgary on July 17 is coming to Canada courtesy of the Indian High Commission.
“This particular theatre group we are hosting is part of the World Sanskrit Conference being held in Vancouver this month. Once it completes its performance in Vancouver, it will travel to Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, Toronto and end in Ottawa,” says Menon, who has known about this treasured form of Indian theatre all her life but has never seen a performance.
“I was born in Kerala, the state which preserved this art form and I knew about it, but my family moved away to another state when I was quite young so I never got the opportunity to see it.”
Originally, only people who attended the temples would ever get to see a performance. In 1996, the plays were held outside of the temples so more people could see them and, gradually, certain companies began touring their shows.
“Initially, there were protests because it was felt the plays should be preserved inside the temples, but once they were presented in public there was no turning back and that’s when they began to tour,” says Menon.
Koodiyattam plays are dance and drama presentations of stories from Hindu mythology. Menon says the play coming to Calgary is “a story of a fight between two rival Monkey Kings who are brothers and who are in love with the same woman. The woman they are fighting over is the only female character in the play. All the rest of the actors are men.”
“The story is conveyed through facial expressions plus hand and body movements.”
Menon says the dance dramas always include a special character called Vidushaka, whose role is to provide comic relief.
“Because the play is performed in an ancient dialect, he explains the story to the audience in their (language). This character has licence to make fun of the other characters on stage and even of the audience. He is like the fool in Shakespeare’s plays and it is his role to lighten the presentation, which would otherwise be quite heavy.”
In Calgary there will be subtitles explaining the story as it unfolds.
It appears that the actors are wearing masks but, in fact, it is elaborate makeup that takes up to five hours to apply.
The July 17 show at the Eckhardt-Grammatte Hall, a presentation of the Madhu Margi Theatre Company, begins at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $25 general and $20 for students, seniors and Ragamala members. Visit www.ragamala.ca