The doyen of Malayalam theatre has bowed out. For over four decades, Kavalam Narayana Panicker charted an independent trajectory, creating a genre he variously described as ‘total theatre’, ‘ensemble theatre’ and ‘theatre of roots’. The body of his works speaks of how he embraced the richness of theatre traditions from across the globe but at the core, his productions were earthy, rooted and yet very contemporary in its sub-textual dimension.
If theatre was his first love, his interest spread to the allied arts – music, dance and to some extent, films where too he has left his signature; his interventions in each enriching the repertoire while not violating the canons.
Kavalam carried in his self the rhythms of the soil he was born to – the idyllic Kuttanad. The cadences of the folksy tunes that he had heard in his youth had left an indelible imprint on his senses and would mark his works in the later years. Readings, recitations and performances from the epics were nearly part of the daily routine in the lifestyle of the landed gentry. Small wonder, then, that this rich repository formed a wellspring for his future theatre ventures.
Trained to be a lawyer, Kavalam realised early enough that this was not his calling and delved into his cumulative inheritance to give shape to his concept of theatre. Providing the appropriate opportunity was his appointment in 1961 as secretary of the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi. The experience brought Kavalam closer to the rich cultural heritage of the land and its deep-rooted theatre traditions, prompting him to undertake research in the folk and classical arts of Kerala.
Conforming did not come easily to this playwright who sought his own idiom in theatre. He was not one who would try and fit into the accepted formats. After initial hiccups, ‘Daivathaar’, his maiden work as a dramatist, directed by Kumara Varma saw light.
The early indicators of a new kind of theatre came with ‘Avanavan Kadamba’, once again a play by Kavalam, but directed by G. Aravindan, the versatile filmmaker in 1974, which became a milestone in Kerala’s theatre scene. It liberated the conventional theatre performance from the straitjacket of stage settings, out into the open, breaking the audience-performer divide and lending more dynamism and fluidity to the actors’ movements. Kavalam’s experiments in theatre had only begun. What followed for the next four decades was the emergence of the Kavalam School of Theatre.
Under the banner of Sopanam, the eclectic Kavalam created, re-told, and adapted plays from Sanskrit and Greek, and the likes of Jean Paul Sartre’s Trojan Women , Shakespeare’s Tempest and Rabindranath Tagore’s Chandalika and Antaryami , figuring among these. The playwright’s penchant for drawing from the Sanskrit theatre tradition is exemplified in the large number of plays by Bhasa, Bodhayana, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuthi and Sakthibhadra that he adapted for his productions.
His maiden directorial venture was with Bhasa’s ‘Madhyama Vyayogam’ in Sanskrit, which he was invited to present at the Kalidas Samaroh (1978) in Ujjain. The standing ovation that the play received provided the stimuli for his future ventures. Always conscious of the aura of Sanskrit plays, Kavalam enhanced the viewer experience by drawing on the physicality of Kalaripayattu, tribal myths, folk rhythms and vaaythari.
Kavalam’s plays were characterised by a physical energy, and seamless blending of folk artistic expressions and music, which infused the performance with a new aesthetic. Not for nothing that he referred to his rehearsal sessions and space as the ‘kalari’.
If Kavalam drew from Sanskrit theatre to create his plays, he also resuscitated Sopanasangeetham which had remained confined within the temple precincts. There was more to sopanam than its function as an offering –‘kottippaadiseva’. The Kavalam touch came with the use of Sopanasangeetham to accompany Mohiniyattam performances, which till then relied heavily on Carnatic padams. And this choice found fruition when well-known dancer Bharati Sivaji started using it for her Mohiniyattam performances. Over a hundred compositions by the poet-lyricist is now part of the repertory.
Detractors were many when it came to Kavalam’s kind of theatre, but his experiments in themes came with some big ticket choices, for example, using the film actor Mohanlal to don the role of Karna, in ‘Karnabharam.’ Earlier, he had chosen to collaborate with the Greek theatre experts and Dr. Ayyappa Panicker to direct ‘Iliyayana’, which was a coming together of the Iliad and the Ramayana.
The metamorphosis of the actor into the character through internalisation was a feature Kavalam held dear in his scheme of theatre. His words, ‘The self-effacement is inevitable to successfully get under the skin of the character,’ is evident in every play. The discipline and rigour the actor undertakes in the kalari bear fruit on stage. What the director had said years ago about the ‘cholkazcha’ popularised in the Seventies holds true for each of his creations, “For me, it was an exercise in creating a parallel stream of expression combining the quality of the verse and using a delivery which would create a visual impact.” Theatre, for him, was the story of man: his productions, be it adaptations of Shakespeare, Tagore or Sartre or the simple tribal myth as in ‘Kallurutty’. To the myths he recreated, he lent an unbroken continuity.
For Kavalam, theatre, dance, music and poetry could never be assigned watertight spaces: they overlap, act as catalysts and the osmosis proves mutually beneficial. His association with Aravindan to script the film Maaraattam was but an early indication of this approach. To the silver screen he gifted over 200 songs, including Aravindan’s Thampu and Kummaatti .
Slotting Kavalam as integral to Kerala’s theatre tradition would only be part of the description of a dramatist who encapsulated in his creativity the essence of the ‘theatre of roots’. Never for a moment did he abdicate his responsibility to India’s rich theatre practices. He was universal to the extent that he assimilated and distilled from ancient theatre conventions beyond his own land, but ensured he drew his strength from the soil that nurtured him.
Honoured by the nation with the Padmabhushan in 2007, he held dear his first award which came from the Kerala Sangeet Natak Akademi in 1974, because it came at a time when he had just set out on his journey in theatre. The Kalidas Samman in 1996, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1983, and the Ford Foundation Fellowship were other recognitions that came his way.
With the passing away of Kavalam Narayana Panicker, the Sopanam kalari will never be the same again. The mentor and consummate theatre-person has exited. When will come another?
Plays by Kavalam
‘Bhagavadajjukam’ – Bodhayan
‘Shakuntalam’ – Kalidasa
‘Vikramorvashiyam’ – Kalidasa
‘Malavikaagnimitram’ – Kalidasa
‘Madhyama Vyayogam’ – Bhasa (Kavalam’s maiden Sanskrit theatre presentation)
‘Urubhangam’ – Bhasa
‘Swapnavasavadatham’ – Bhasa
‘Dootavakyam’ – Bhasa
‘Poranadi’
‘Karimkutty’
‘Theyyae Theyyam’ – adaptation of William Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’
‘Karnabharam’ – Bhasa
‘Charudattam’ – Bhasa
‘Pratima – Bhasa
‘Trojan Women’ – Adaptation of Jean Paul Sartre’s play
‘Kallurutty’
‘Arani’ –based on the Prometheus myth
‘Kalivesham’
‘Daivathar’
‘Sakshi’ – First production under the Sopanam Banner, directed jointly with Kumara Varma
‘Maya’
‘Uttararamacharitham’– Bhavabhuti
‘Nizhalayanam’
‘Chandalika’ – Tagore
‘Antaryami’ – Tagore
***
Maaraattam (Film) –G. Aravindan –Script by Kavalam
