It was early on Thursday when artistes of Dharmasthala Manjunatheswara Krupaposhitha Yakshagana Mandali, a professional Yakshagana touring troupe well over 100 years old, ended their otherwise all-night shows.
The first prasanga (episode) of this year’s tirugata (tour) was presented in five-and-a-half hours from 7 p.m. on Wednesday to 12.25 a.m. on Thursday. If it were an all-night show, it would have continued for eight hours from 9.30 p.m.
With this, the troupe, one among the oldest traditional Yakshagana troupes in the coastal region, took the lead in presenting short duration shows by ending all-night shows and keeping pace with the changing times. The prasanga staged was Pandavashwamedha.
Stakeholders of the mela took this major decision as Yakshagana in general was losing audience after midnight and there were issues, especially in semi-urban and urban areas, relating to playing loudspeakers all through the night.
Ramakrishna Mayya Siribagilu, a bhagawatha (singer), of the mela, said: “With this, we can attract standard audience such as doctors, advocates, teachers and other professionals. Now, all persons are busy in their respective professions. By watching the shows up to midnight, they and their women and children can attend to their regular chores the next day.”
Now, professionals need not wait for the weekend to watch Yakshagana shows, he said.
Quoting an instance in Kasaragod district (Kerala) that happened sometime ago, an artiste said that he knows at least two cases in which police near Kasaragod stopped all-night performances objecting to playing loudspeakers after 10 p.m.
Referring to the dearth of audience after midnight, the artiste said that in some cases, even the hosts of the programme had gone home after midnight leaving the authorities of the mela to watch the performance. During some performances, there was only a countable number of audience, say 15, left watching the show.
The manager of the mela, Girish Hegde, said that the troupe would perform for five hours from 7 a.m. to midnight. Of that, 45 minutes would be devoted to poorva ranga performances.
It was expected that the first show in the temple town could hold on a good number of audience till the end of it. Also, the melas were facing a dearth of open grounds to stage bayalatas.
