|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home
|
Sitemap
|
Alappuzha
|
Aranmula
|
Guruvayur
|
Kannur
|
Kochi
|
Kodungallur
|
Kollam
|
Kottayam |
Kovalam |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Three families of the Chakyar caste and a few outsiders perform the Sanskrit drama Kutiyattam, the oldest continually performed theatre form in the world. Until recently it was only performed inside temples and then only in front of the uppermost castes. Visually it is very similar to its offspring, Kathakali, but its atmosphere is infinitely more archaic. The actors, eloquent in sign language and symbolic movement, speak in the bizarre, compelling, intonation of the local brahmins' Vedic chant, unchanged since 1500 BC. A single act of a Kutiyattam play can require ten full nights; the entire play takes forty. A great actor, in full command of the subtleties of expression through gestures, can take half an hour to do such a simple thing as murder a demon, berate the audience, or simply describe a leaf fall to the ground. Unlike Kathakali, Kutiyattam includes comic characters and plays. The ubiquitous Vidushaka , narrator and clown, is something of a court jester, and traditionally has held the right openly to criticize the highest in the land without fear of retribution.
|
|
Explore Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
Cardamom Hills
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
