Natana Kairali presents Sakuntala in Kutiyattam November 13 - 23, 2008 Europe November 9, 2008  Kutiyattam
of Kerala is the oldest surviving Sanskrit Theatre tradition of India.
It has a unique representation of Sanskrit plays and a highly stylized
and complex theatre language replete with traditional hand gestures and
facial expressions. Recently UNESCO declared Kutiyattam as a masterpiece
of the 'Intangible Cultural Heritage.'
The hereditary performers of Kutiyattam had over the centuries explored several illustrious poets like Bhasa, Sakthibhadra, Kulasekhara, Bodhayana etc. But it remains a mystery over why the monumental works of a master poet like Kalidasa were not in the repertoire of Kutiyattam. Since several years, G Venu and his Kutiyattam troupe had been discussing, thinking and experimenting seriously of the possibilities of producing Kalidasa plays in Kutiyattam. In January 2002 the troupe produced the entire play SAKUNTALA (Abhijnana Sakuntalam) in Kutiyattam. It was about a 16 hours long production from Nandi to Bharata Vakya including all the seven acts presented through four nights. There was a strong line of opinion and thinking in the Kutiyattam scholarly circle that not only Sakuntalam but all of Kalidasa's plays are unsuitable for Kutiyattam. There was also this superstition that Sakuntalam is prohibited in Kutiyattam. The endeavours of Natana Kairali has called the bluff on these two schools of thought and has caused many to now argue that Kalidasa’s poetic language is most suitable for the style of acting unique to Kutiyattam.
During Nov
2008, the play SAKUNTALA will be presented in the
G Venu, the
director of the play is one of the seniormost exponents of Kutiyattam and
is also a recipient of the Kerala Kalamandalam Award, the Kerala Sangeetha
Nadaka Akademi Award and the prestigious NIKKEI Asia Prize for culture.
The other members include young performers such as Kapila, Sooraj Nambiar,
Ammannur Rajaneesh Chakyar, Pothiyil Ranjeeth Chakyar, Kalamandalam Divya,
and a senior artiste Margi Sajeev Narayanan. The percussion artistes are
Nirmala Paniker (Talam), Kalamandalam Rajeev, Kalamandalam Hariharan, and
Kalamandalam Narayanan Nambiar (Mizhavu), Kalanilayam Unnikrishnan (Idakka)
and Kalanilayam Haridas (Makeup).
For further
details:
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This
production has been staged frequently in national and international theatre
festivals such as Bharat Rang Mahotsav of National School of Drama (Delhi),
Khajuraho Festival etc. An edited version of 11 hours duration in 3 days
of the play SAKUNTALA was staged in Torino Settembre Musica' Festival,
Italy (2004), Kerala Festival under the auspices of Ateliers d’ethnomusicologie,
Geneva (2004), Morishita Studio, Tokyo (2005), XXXII Festival di Morgana
in Palermo (Museo Antonio Pasqualino) (2007) and Lyon National Opera in
France (2007).
In
the Roma Europa Festival the whole play will be presented in three parts
during three days and also on 16 Nov, the entire play of 7 hours 30 minutes
duration with three hours intermission will be presented from 14.30 -17.00
/ 18.00 - 20.30 / 21.30 - 24.00. This is the first Indian theatre production
of such a long duration being performed in the venues outside the country.