Oral storytelling overlapped with role-play and street theatre at the Kattaikoothu performance at the recently-concluded 40th anniversary celebrations of Adishakti and sixth edition of the ‘Remembering Veenapani’ festival. Santippu (encounter) by the Kancheepuram-based Kattaikuttu Sangam was a minimalist show rooted in one of the Tamil Nadu’s earliest forms of experiential rural theatre that was once a popular draw at festivals of Goddess Draupadi. The performance by Kattaikoothu actor, director and playwright Perungattur P. Rajagopal and Jeeva Raghunath was centred on an excerpt from the Mahabharata where Lord Krishna calls on Duryodhana to engage in a last-ditch, eventually doomed, diplomatic parleys to avert the catastrophe of a full scale war between the Pandavas and Kauravas. “What we presented was a stripped down version without the usual ensemble cast of musicians...the play featured just two artistes on the stage to tell the story and sing songs”, said Hanne M. De Bruin, from Netherlands, whose deep interest in the Tamil art form led her to do a Ph.D on the subject and launch the Kattaikuttu Sangam along with veteran Koothu artiste Rajagopal whom she married. Bruin prefaced the show with an overview in chaste Tamil and English to initiate the audience into the legacy of the Kattaikoothu (or Therukoothu), which typically features bright costumes, faces painting with bright pigments, kattai (wooden) ornaments inlaid with mirror work, and headgear, the making of each being sub genres of sorts. The show was based on Krishnan Thoothu written by Kalavai La. Kumarasami Vattiyar. “Not only does the Mahabharata offer the Kattaikoothu a rich repertoire, what is most remarkable is how there seems to exist an exact or near parallel in the epic to any modern dilemma or contemporary challenge”, said Ms. Bruin. “The art form is also a showcase of the richness of the Tamil language in its many facets, from the folksy to the chaste and the highly literary”, she said. The experimental nature of the show enlarged the scope of the artistes to engage the audience in relatable modern-day situations, from a seemingly mundane husband-wife conversation that points to gender relations, and even an imaginary dialogue between the Delta and the Omicron variants of COVID-19, commissioned by Yama, who prefer mass mortality to the “monotony” of executing a kill-list one-by-one! The Kattaikuttu Sangam, which also runs a Gurukulam, has since 2002, provided rural children Kattaikoothu training in combination with full-fledged education and comprehensive care. “Though the Koothu continues to be performed in some villages during festival season, the art form risks going moribund in the not too distant future unless the Tamil Nadu government steps in with adequate, institutionalised support. Already, the art form has very few serious takers from the youth as it is hardly a sustainable or socially respectable livelihood source”, said Ms. Bruin, who as Artistic Director, is now actively involved in the Sangam’s new productions as a dramaturg and costume designer. She feels that neighbouring Kerala has managed exemplary work in revival and sustenance of classical and traditional art forms such as Koodiyattam, Ottanthullal and Kathakali. The Sangam is looking to create a repository of the indigenous theatre and preservation of the art for the current and future generations. In addition to adapting old texts, the Sangam is also developing new productions (Santippu, for instance, was conceived specifically for the Adishakti festival) through creative ensembles, innovative costumes and inspiring collaborations.
Artists performing in the Santippu, a street play held during the 40th anniversary celebrations of Adishakti and sixth edition of the ‘Remembering Veenapani’ festival. | Photo Credit: KUMAR SS
Artists performing in the Santippu, a street play held during the 40th anniversary celebrations of Adishakti and sixth edition of the ‘Remembering Veenapani’ festival. | Photo Credit: KUMAR SS
