Performance of Kathakali Theatre by Kalamandalam Karunakaran

The Intercultural Institute for Comparative Music Studies has organised an evening dedicated to Kathakali Theatre from Southern India.
In the West, Kathakali is the best-known, most studied and most admired form of classical Indian theatre. The perfect synthesis of dance, mime, singing and music, Kathakali (or the art of narrating stories) originated in Kerala in the 17th-century. Historically, it was performed in the courtyards of the houses of actors’ families or near temples.
Its repertory of stories is mainly taken from the great Hindu epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. It has survived in Kerala as a form of sacred theatre, but in the 20thcentury it was also revived into a second artistic life in major theatres in India and the rest of the world. Kathakali is essentially a drama performance by actor-dancers.
The entire drama is conveyed in a very rich coded language consisting of gesturing hands, facial mimic and explicit movements of the whole body. In this art precision and form are of crucial importance.

The text for the performance is interpreted by two singers, while the powerful rhythm is set by three drums. Kathakali make-up and costumes are highly elaborate, very striking and symbolic. The dominant colours are green and red.
Making up and dressing, which usually lasts three or four hours, are an important means of psychologically preparing the actor, who must identify with the divine and demonic characters in the mythological tale.

Before the performance, Vito Di Bernardi, University of Siena, and Nina Soufy will give introductory talks on the techniques and the thousand-year-old tradition of this theatrical genre from southern India. At the end of the presentation, Kalamandalam Karunakaran will perform a Kathakali play (open to the public).
Kalamandalam Karunakaran was born into a family of Kathakali actors. He graduated from the Kalamandalam, the prestigious drama school created in 1930 by the poet Vallathol on the banks of the River Nila, Thrissur (Kerala). After having taught Kathakali for several years at the New Delhi International Centre, in 1978 Karunakaran settled in Paris where he has collaborated with Peter Brook, Ariane Mnouchkine and Bartabas.

Intercultural Institute of Comparative Music Studies
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