The Kaali Drama

Synopsis

The play takes place in a rural temple. The whole village is gearing up for a ritualistic performance of ‘The Kaali Drama’. The ritual was stopped in this temple since the actor playing Kaali killed the actor playing Darika, during the performance, 51 years ago. Fifty-one years later, the ambiance and the scale and mode of celebrations have changed and have a hype associated with the festival, with more color, decorative lighting, and music.

The Kaali Drama show starts normally and is true to the ritual. But things take an unusual turn when the same repeats during the latest performance too – Kaali, played by a woman belonging to a lowly caste and subjected to many injustices, kills Rama Kurup, who played Darikan.

The devotees see the incident as Goddess Kali restoring justice to the world, the police see this as an act of crime, and for the media, this is another sensational reportage. In the melee, the real issue raised by Kali, the actor, goes unnoticed. She, along with Kooli, defines their own path.

The reality of a murder juxtaposed with the ritual links the play to contemporary realities. Elements from many ritual performances are adapted, keeping realism in acting styles and narrative subtext.

Director’s note

The main narrative structure of the play The Kaali Drama is based on the ritual of Kali Naadakam, where the Goddess kills the Demon and restores order and justice. But the play has got another dimension when the reality of murder is juxtaposed with the ritual. That automatically links up the ritual to contemporary realities. Goddess is brought down from the elevated pedestal to the earthy materiality to render justice to real-world crime. This demanded a new and unique structure for the play. Hence elements from ritual performances like Kaliyoottu and Mudiyettu are adapted while keeping the acting styles and narrative subtext very realistic. The play progresses along these two channels of expression, or rather in the union of these two diverse channels.

Another highlight of the visual language evolved for play The Kaali Drama is the use of lights.

Credit

Folk Theatre Training- Guru Narayana Kurup • Set In Charge- Rajesh Mohan • Properties- Zumesh Chittooran & Anish Rlv • Makeup Design- Pattanam Rasheed • Makeup- Kalamandalam Vaisakh • Choreography- Sreejit P Dazzlers • Lights Design- Sreekanth Cameo • Lights- Jolly Antony • Stage Manager- Sreedeep Ps • Production In Charge- Shaji Joseph • Art, Properties, And Costume Design- Shobha Menon • Music- Chandran Veyyattummel • Written By- Sajitha Madathil • Design And Direction- Chandradasan

Cast

Sajitha Madathil | Divya Gopinath | Jayachandran Thakazhikkaran | Gopan Mangat | Sudhi Panoor | Rahul Sreenivasan | Aji Thiruvankulam | Saju KPAC | Akhila Nath | Anugraha Paul | Mithulesh Cholakkal | Nazarudheen Valiyaveettil |  Manoj Bhanu | Vishnu K Nair | Arya MK | Kalamandalam Sarath VS | Sajeev Roy | Priya Sreejith