Theatre In
Kerala, With Strong And Steady Steps...
by Chandradasan
As anywhere else in India, the theatre of
Kerala also is at another crossroads when we are about to move to the
next millennium. Many critics and theatre enthusiasts complain that
the theatre in not giving a result that they expected and dreamed. There
is some confusion in the theater activist also regarding the form and
structure of the medium and the nature of the productions. Their overt
inclination to do mad experiments had driven some audience away. At
the same time, the theatre practitioner of today is aware of the craft
and aesthetics of his medium, as his contemporary at any other part
of the globe. The lack of finance and material resources creates another
peculiar scenario that the theatre worker of Kerala has to leave his
vision about a production at a half cooked level. The local and state
governments were not theatre friendly and their patronage remains minimal.
The state Sangeetha Nataka Academy remains incompetent in planning projects
and guiding theater activities, partly due to the minimal funds with
which they are operating and partly due to lack of vision. The only
incident, with which the academy provided inspiration to the theatre
worker of Kerala, was the National Theater festival at Ernakulam in
1977 and now in 2000. Delhi, the central government agencies, and the
Kendra Sangeetha Nataka academy have proved to be at a far, faraway
distance that even primary contact seems to be impossible. The poverty
of theatre and the minimal social acceptance it offers drives a theatre
enthusiast either to the film or TV or to other engagements, in his
pursuit to earn a livelihood. Adding all these negative factors, people
envisage confusion and disillusionment in the theatre of the future.
Many complain that the present theater is not addressing to the social
and human issues as it did in the past.
However, one should remember that the theatre
of Kerala has evolved amidst such confusions and dilemmas. The one hundred
years that is passing off have seen drastic changes in the theater of
Kerala, both in content and concept, in form and organization. It is
in the first twenty-five years of this century that the theatre of Kerala
evolved, based on the models of the touring Tamil groups and their song
-dramas. In addition, the translation of Sanskrit classics like Sakuntalam
and their performances were an early trend that exposed the Keralite
to the new medium and its possibilities. Soon the social activists identified
the intrinsic potential of this live medium, and a number of progressive
dramas such as Ruthumathi (pubert Girl), Adukkalayil Ninnu arangathekku
(from the kitchen to the stage), Pattabakki (the remaining lease), and
Koottukrishi (collective farming) followed. These dramas identified
themselves with civil reformers and their effort to revitalize the society
to shed off the irrational and absurd social practices and dogmas. This
was a highly fertile period for Malayalam drama that, a good number
of these sensible productions, contributed to the formation of the present
Keralite identity with a rational and a reasonable social outlook. This
trend continued unto the production of Ningalenne Communistakki (You
made me a Communist), - by Thoppil Bhasi and performed by KPAC- which,
many believe as one of the reasons, for the election of a communist
governance in Kerala. However, the form of Kerala theatre remained as
a primitive and crude imitation of the Victorian proscenium propagated
by the touring Tamil Companies. Of course, the body of the drama was
filled with melodrama, with high voltage outbreaks of histrionic explosion
and the execution very bungled. The presence of such great actors like
V.T.Bhattathirippadu, Sebastian Kunju Kunju Bhagavathar, and many others,
together with a content that is directly related to the life and problems
of the people, made them highly popular and pertinent.
The next fifty years of our theatre tells a different story with multiple
streams. The success of the socially progressive plays like Ningalenne
Communistakki and the productions of Malabar Kendra Kalasamithi inspired
a mainstream theatre culture that gradually fell into the rut of repeated
cliches and formulas in content, structure, acting, music and all departments
of the production. At the same period playwrights like C.N.Sreekantan
Nair and C.J.Thomas have written plays that did not confirm to the run
of the mill creations of the period. Still their plays like Lankalakshmi
and Aa manushyan nee thanne (That man is you) did not resulted in productions
until 1975. After independence, India was familiarizing itself to the
theatre awareness that has revolutionized the theatre practices of the
world, the new schools and newer trends. Even if a theatre school was
started in Kerala only in 1978 at Trichur, theatre education was introduced
much before through the Nataka Kalaries (theatre workshops) organised
by late G.Sankara Pillai and others. The NSD products including Kumara
Varma and S. Ramanujam started doing productions and workshops in various
parts of the state. Theatre evolved as an art form, with its own aesthetic
standards and one that demanded serious and continuous commitment from
the artists. The exploration to evolve a theatre practice rooted in
the rich Indian performance tradition was joined by Kavalam Narayana
Panikker, G Sankara Pillai, R.Narendra Prasad and others with productions
like Avanavan Kadamba (the self-fence), Karimkutty (both by Kavalam
Narayana Panikker), Karutha daivathe thedi (In search of the black god)
by G.Sankara Pillai, and Souparnnika By R.Narendraprasad, and also with
the theoretical comprehension.
It seemed that the late seventies and early
eighties are envisaging a quantum jump in the concept and practice of
Kerala theatre. The activities of the School of Drama, the productions
of Thiruvarangu (now Sopanam), Natyagraham, and young groups like ‘Root’
Trichur come forward with inspiring activities. Even the street plays
put up by Kerala Sastra Sahithya Parishat has good theatre in it. The
productions like Nattugaddika (by K.J.Baby) – performed by the
tribals of the Vayanadu district along with the activists of CPI-ML,
with a content that is highly political, theme and structure evolved
from the tribal myths and rituals, presented in a sort of street corner
agit prop theatre, during the period of emergency under strong police
vigil and threats of arrest - gave new meanings to the purpose and practice
of theatre. This happened to be an alternative search in the practice
of the indigenous theatre in form and in content.
The numerous theatre competitions organised
in almost every village in Kerala have also been the school for many
theatre workers to breed. These rural theater competitions introduced
the modern and experimental theater to the people of Kerala. Names like
Brecht and Growtowsky were very familiar to the theatre aspirants and
even productions of Waiting for Godot was usual in such festivals.
This boom did not last long. In the early 1990 there was despair and
confusion Those dreams did not flower in the same dimensions and the
audience slowly turned away. Many of the good talents left for films
as actors or technicians. The theatre was still going steadily and regularly
even at this period. There were good and meaningful productions at different
parts of Kerala. The critics who made much noise at the seminars and
symposia never came to witness a play. The enmities among the different
theatre practitioners often added further fuel to the chaos.
It is at this same time that foreign intervention
came to theatre of Kerala with Funds and grants for “specific
projects on theatre”, by agencies like Fords Foundation. They
succeeded in wooing the talented directors and artists into their trap
and very talented and promising directors like Jose Chiramel were the
first among the prey. This is an all India phenomena including Bengal
(personally, I am very curious to know about the present theatre of
Probir Guha who had done very meaningful and relevant theatre in the
early nineties.) Those directors and artists wooed and eventually castrated
by Ford foundation and other similar agencies were either lost into
the hallucinations of a drunkard, with anarchistic wanderings in the
fringe territory of theatre. Or they had succeeded in propagating false
standards and priorities regarding the form, aesthetics and content
and mode of theatre and kidnapped theatre from the real people. They
formed a nationwide networking of the fake polished theatre as dictated
by western sensibilities and their needs that does not have any living
relationship with the people, their history, and realities.
But there are signs that theatre in Kerala
is reemerging as a vital form of expression. The theatre activists and
the new groups are working slowly and steadily to reestablish the theatre
that has been robbed off, from them and the people. These groups are
aware of the situation they are in and are willing to fight back, steadily,
and systematically against all odds. It is with strong steps that the
theatre of Kerala is moving to the next millennium. There are groups
working regularly with a clear perspective in training, practice, and
organizational fabric, at different parts of Kerala. Groups like Lokadharmi
Thrippunithura, Abhinaya Thiruvananthapuram, and Center for performing
arts Kollam, Jananayana Vadanappalli, A.S.Smaraka Kalavedi Karalmanna,
Desaposhini Kozhikodu, and Annoor peoples arts club Payyannoor are doing
effective work with a clear vision against all odds and have come with
meaningful productions. The signs these and similar groups are displaying
are really inspiring and encouraging. The fact is that many productions
of these groups are better in form and in content, than the recent productions
by big names in the field of Indian theatre. It is a fact that the freshness
and energy of many Malayalam productions are absent in the many of the
Nationally acclaimed productions.
The theatre will be better equipped to take
up the challenges the future is offering. The social atmosphere of the
next century does not seem to be very smooth, with the many problems,
tensions, and revolts in the offing, in political, economical and social
stratum. The theatre will take up those agonies and anxieties and join
to fight the enemy both from outside and within, as a live media that
is very close to the people. It is at bad times and against odds that
a medium like theater will flourish, as an art form and as a true weapon
of the people....
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