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Stringing stories together
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At the release of "Keezhai Nattu-k-kathaigal" French puppeteer Brigette Revelli presented a story from the book
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SHADOW, LIGHT AND COLOUR A scene from "How Wang-Fo was saved"
Shadows can throw light on intangibles. "`How Wang-Fo was saved' is a story about death," says Brigette Revelli, a French puppeteer, "and shadows and puppets can convey the sense of impermanence." She used shadow puppetry and actors wearing masks to tell the story from the book "Oriental Tales" by Marguerite Yourcenar, during the release of its Tamil translation "Keezhai Nattu-k-kathaigal" recently at the Alliance Francaise.
The shadows and the oversized masks also create a fantastical world in which Wang-Fo's irrational passion for "the images of the objects, than the objects themselves" can be conveyed. He meets Ling, who later becomes his follower, at a liquor house. He makes a painting of Ling's wife and Ling, enamoured by the painting, forgets her. She hangs herself and Wang-Fo unable to resist the beauty of the scene, paints it. Ling lost in the process of painting, forgets to cry. The two then leave Ling's home to travel around. When the focus is a larger canvas such as their travels, the shadow puppets are used. But when the focus has to be narrowed such as on the antiques of Wang-Fo and Ling, the actors step in. The two are later captured by the royal guards and brought before the emperor. The screen on which the shadows are projected is rolled up and the emperor puppet is rolled down.
The emperor plans to execute the old artist and he explains why. A masked actor then crawls on to the stage to narrate the past. The emperor's father brought him up in seclusion, inside the palace. The prince grew up surrounded by Wang-Fo's paintings. The prince grows up, hoping to see a world as beautiful as that in the paintings. But when he sees the real world, he is appalled. The disillusionment embitters him and he seeks revenge from Wang-Fo. The emperor wants to execute the artist "whose enchantment has given me the disgust of everything I own, and the desire for everything I shall never possess."
Before Wang-Fo's death, the emperor wants him to finish a picture of a jade green river and a boat on it. As the painter is at his work, the river starts filling the room. Wang-Fo then paints a boat and he and Ling escape, away from people "who cannot get lost in paintings."
Brigette founded the Minaminungukkel puppets and masks company in Kerala three years ago. She was introduced to Kathakali by Sadanam Balakrishnan Asan, principal of the International Kathakali Centre, New Delhi, and inspired by the art form she began making puppets. She is also a dancer, choreographer and a sculptor.
The book "Nouvelles Orientales" (Oriental Tales) by Marguerite Yourcenar was chosen for translation by Jean Paul Elbaz, Director of Alliance Francaise because not many works of French women authors have been translated. Also, it is a novella, a rare genre in French. Marguerite was the first woman to be elected to Academie Francaise. The book, translated by V. Sriram, Durga Shankar, Janakanandini and Manisha Narayan, is priced at Rs. 125.
ASHA MENON
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