“I WANT THE AUDIENCE NOT TO LOOK AT ME JUST AS A FEMALE FORM”
NIMMY RAPHEL, 35, Assistant Director and Actor, Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research
Born to a family of farmers, Nimmy Raphel never imagined a career in theatre for herself, much less being the first woman working member at Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Arts & Research. Founded in 1981 by theatre artist Veenapani Chawla, Puducherry-based Adishakti creates contemporary performances, conducts research in traditional forms like Koodiyattam and Dhrupad and develops and disseminates its own language in theatre.
Raphel, who is from the small hill town of Wayanad, Kerala, has trained in dance forms such as Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi at Kerala Kalamandalam before she arrived at Adishakti 17 years ago. “Suddenly, I was introduced to a world of possibilities,” she says. “Until then I was instructed to follow and here I was being made to think on my own and create,” she adds.
She found a mentor in Veenapani Chawla and went through years of rigorous training in Kalaripayattu and music and was part of pioneering productions like Brhnalla, The Hare and the Tortoise, The Tenth Head and Ganapati. In 2012, she stepped into direction with a solo, Nidrawatham, where she plays the characters Lakshmana and Kumbhakarna in an aesthetic derived from extensive research in the craft.
In her 16 years performing at the company, Raphel has played only one female character; therein lies her belief in the body, rather than the gender of the performer. “I wanted the audience to look at me not as a female form but as a carrier of thought,” she says. Pushing the envelope further through her upcoming production Bali (to premiere in April), Raphel is exploring a performance on a bare stage using the actors’ bodies to tell a story. Bali also draws on extensive research in the ancient form of kushti. “It is a form that lends itself to theatre beautifully and has not been used before. We have been training a lot in it for this production,” she adds.