Admirable venture
A. SANGAMESWARAN
|
An act from `Abhishekanaatakam' was staged at Irinjalakuda.
|
The story narrates the battle between Rama and Ravana, as seen by three Vidhyadharas.
HARMONY: A scene from `Prathamadwitheeyaangam.'
The international recognition and accolades for Koodiyattam have acted as a buoyant force amongst its performers to unravel, produce and present new plays and acts from the vast treasure of Koodiyattom texts.
One such act, `Prathamadwitheeyaangam' adopted from Bhasa's `Abhishekanaatakam' was recently performed at Irinjalakuda under the aegis of Ammannur Gurukulam.
Unique play
Even though `Prathamadwitheeyaangam' is a vishkhambham (connecting link between two acts of a play) in text, it was adapted as an act in the drama for staging it.
The story narrates the battle between Rama and Ravana, as seen by three Vidhyadharas (celestial people), who has travelled all the way from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka to see the battle.
The unique feature of this play is that the three actors have equally important roles and they perform in total unison making the term Koodiyattam more meaningful.
The characters are only named as `first,' `second' and `third' and even the nithyakriya, which is a ritualistic preface, is performed together by the trio. "There is no record of a recent performance of this act, but the production manual underlines the fact that it might have been performed or that its scope had been realised long before," observes Ammannur Kuttan Chakyar, the director of the play.
Impressive portrayal
Ammannur Rajaneesh, Suraj Nambiar and Pothiyil Ranjith, the younger generation artistes and torch bearers of the Ammannur tradition, admirably enacted the roles of the three Vidhyadharas.
The comparison of the aerial view of the battleground to an ocean with the dark demons as water, Lord Rama's army as the waves and Lord Rama as the full moon was beautifully demonstrated. Kalamandalam Hariharan, Narayanan Nambiar, Rajeev and Ravikumar accompanied on the mizhavu. Unnikrishnan (edakka) and Aparna (thaalam) supported them.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
