“Kannaki is a symbol of empowerment, of strength; it is a powerful tale of a woman’s fight for justice. I felt that her story was a tale for our times, when women are facing so many problems on different fronts,” says Annie Johnson, a student of Koodiyattam and Nangiarkoothu exponent Margi Sathi.
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So enamoured was Annie of the intrepid Kannaki that she requested her guru Sathi to teach her to perform the play on the valiant woman, who is revered as a goddess in the famous Attukal temple in the city. Choreographed by the veteran performer, choreographer and teacher, Kannakicharitham narrates the story of the wronged Kannaki, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silappathikaram , who refused to accept the injustice meted out to her husband, Kovalan.
“I was always fascinated by the story of the protagonist of the Silappathikaram . Here was a woman who had to go through so many trials and tribulations and yet she refuses to be crushed by injustice. Although the actual duration of the play is more than two hours, I will be presenting an abridged version of the play,” she explains.
Thus on April 6, Monday, Thirumuttom at Bharat Bhavan, Thycaud, will come alive with a tale that was written around 100-300 CE. Annie will take viewers back in time to the prosperous city of Kaveripattanam where a wealthy merchant Kovalan marries Kannaki. After a series of misfortunes, the couple reach Madurai. While Kovalan was trying to sell his wife’s anklets, he is arrested, falsely accused of theft and beheaded.
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“I found it challenging to enact the scene where Kannaki confronts the Pandyan King of Madurai with the truth. She is fury personified when she challenges the King and in the next minute filled with sadness when she realises that Kovalan is lost forever. It is then that she curses the city of Madurai. Expressions and movements change in fleeting seconds, from fury to sorrow to rage!”
Although Annie is a latecomer to the art form, she says she was able to learn Nangiarkoothu on account of the able guidance of her guru who was able to help her understand the mindscape of the characters she essays on stage.