1

Introduction

Theatre research gained space in Indian academic circles only after the end of the

British colonial regime, particularly after the establishment of the National School of

Drama in 19591 (Chaturvedi 67). This does not imply that there did not exist any active

theatre practices that are worthy of research. On the other hand, India with its plurality of

languages and cultural practices had given birth to so many theatrical traditions that it

became a difficult task for a researcher to pin down and make a comprehensive study

about the theatres in India. As scholars and practitioners, we all struggle with how our

work is to address the specificities of geocultural backgrounds, socio-political

environments, the colours of vernacular languages and so on (Chaturvedi 66). In this

cultural backdrop, a researcher in Kerala theatre should take a quick and cursory glance

over the general trend of the existing body of selected research works on theatre in India.

As ample amount of reviews are already available on almost all the major works written

on theatre in India, the attempt here is to focus on two interesting analysis on theatre

research in India largely after the post- independence period, one by Ravi Chaturvedi and

the other by Aparna Dharwadker. The reviews help us with different sets of classification

of the existing body of literature that forms a canon 2 of theatre research in India.

Identifying the paraphernalia used by other researchers in the field, would also help us to

locate the relevance of this particular research on Kerala theatre inside and outside the

canon of theatre research in India.

1
Theatre practices were in plenty even before the independence, but considering theatre as an area of
academic study came as part of an institution that engaged in theatre pedagogy.
2
Theatre research in India has established a canonical way of categorising studies on theatre by the
discourses that revolve around tradition, modernity and post colonialism.
 2

The post-independence period witnessed the large scale institutionalisation of art

forms under the title of nationhood as a pursuit of finding unity in diversity which has

become a clichd slogan. This self-fashioning3 resulted in the proliferation of studies in

search of an existence and standardisation of the theatre practices all over India. The

descriptive research on theatre of this particular point of time always culminated in an

approximation towards the never ending quest for the imagined community4 in the

divergent theatre practices spread across the country.

As part of this nationalist project, the first category of all the significant research

books in the post-independence period focused on the traditional theatres of various

regions and significant theatre traditions that are deemed to be classical and Indian. The

second category of books dealt with the theatre of the colonial period that served as a

motivation for freedom struggle. Finally, the third category is on post independence

theatre as a project that might plume forth into the reassertion of a unified cultural

identity of a nation (Chaturvedi 67). In her book Theatre of Independence: Drama,

Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947, Aparna Dharwadker points out that,

the interaction between the old colonial cities and the blooming of the new metropolitan

or urban theatres with an over emphasis on neglecting colonial practices by embracing

classical Indian traditions has created the post independence theatre scene of India (02).

3
The term self-fashioning is introduced by new historicist Stephen Greenblatt, in his book Renaissance
Self Fashioning: From Moore to Shakespeare (1980) to describe the construction of an individuals identity
in accordance with a set of socially acceptable standards. Here the nationalist spirit and subsequent
homogenization is considered as a self-fashioning, a construct, that resulted in the increase in the number of
publications on theatre practices in India under the single idea of Indianness.
4
Imagined Communities is a concept coined by Benedict Anderson to represent communities that are
different from an actual community because the members in these communities do not interact with each
other but keeps a mental affinity towards the concept of an imagined unity. The concept was used by
Anderson to talk about nationalism that was a part of print capitalism in his book Imagined Communities
(1983).
 3

The relation of history with literary periods and political chronology is quite natural in

any process of historiography. But with regards to the postcolonial attributes of theatre in

India, even the categorising of Dharwadker, of post independence period as an

unprecedented area with the comment, contemporary Indian theatre appears to be an

arena in which historical boundaries have become radically permeable (02) is sometimes

a farfetched idea to bring in the whole theatre practice of India under the lens of

postcolonial discourse.

Opinions such as there will surely be a common trend of post-colonialism or

that of Indianness in the theatres is an approximation of the same debate about the

concept of a homogenous Indian theatre. Even a review on theatre research in India,

often turns out to be a long list of studies on Indian theatre written in either of the two

official languages: Hindi and English. However, a very few prominent texts in some of

the modern Indian languages also could find place in. The linguistic bias is conspicuous

in the compilation of a record of the areas of theatre research in India, with the regional

literatures being marginalised. The deviant ways in which practitioners and theorists of

other regional languages have approached the study of theatre in India and their

contributions towards enriching the knowledge of theatre in public are grossly ignored.

Indian theatre is more or less a construct that emerged as part of a nationalist

agenda during the post independence period. Ralph Yarrow in his Indian Theatre:

Theatre of Origin, Theatre of Freedom says, Indian theatre, like the notion of

Indianness, is debatable and debated, part of an ongoing crisis which is extremely

complex and involves much more than theatre (144). The Indianness of Indian theatre

can only be ascertained in terms of productions that are done in the geographical location
 4

of India or those produced in Indian languages as such. This struggle resulted in the

production of partial accounts on theatre history, practices and traditions. As

institutionalization of art involves the museumization5 of the same, the ideological bents

with which each of these texts was written always have an inherent exclusionary or

inclusionary tendency. Therefore, most of the research, though make tall claim as a study

on the theatres in India wind up as a study on the concept of an Indian theatre. It is high

time that the implications of generalisation are appreciated, whereby, the entire corpus of

works in the regional languages is always marginalised in order to protect the imagined

stature of a national theatre. Rather than conceptualising a politically neutral category, it

is indeed necessary to identify specific areas of studies related to certain geographical

areas in India, so that it would help us to scrutinize how theatre is manifested in that

specific location and how it is reciprocated through literature over the centuries. Such a

study will contribute to a larger project of studies related to theatre practices in India that

may result in an aggregate of works on regional theatres, their specificities and

complexities which in turn would contest or contribute to the idea of Indian theatre.

In this context, this dissertation is an attempt to study the history, development

and practices in Kerala theatre by considering the divergent theatre practices existing

inside Kerala. Hence, this work will focus on the contemporary theatre practices of

Kerala and the visual cultural shift in Kerala theatre, especially in the post independence

period. Contemporary Kerala theatre is consciously considering visual as its dominant

aspect. This dominance of visual has been seeded in the days of theatre pedagogy in the

5
Tapati Guha- Thakurta in her essay Instituting the Nation in Art talks about the museumization of
traditional sculptures and paintings for the means of propagating a unique national culture as a resistance to
colonialism.
 5

region. This fuelled a curiosity to inquire about why and how visual elements dominate

the practices in contemporary Kerala theatre and whether this tendency undermines the

dramatic features of a text. In order to close study this tendency, the visual orientation of

Kerala theatre from the 1800s is considered and later narrowed down to the select plays

and practices of contemporary theatre practitioners, specifically, in the context of theatre

festivals. The phrase visual orientation is used to signify how the contemporary

directors orient their visual practices in relation to the history of practices in Kerala

theatre; the different modes by which these directors form visuals on the stage and the

audience towards whom the visuals are oriented towards when their plays are perfomed

in the context of Keralas theatre space. This would also serve as a historical account on

the shift in the focus of Kerala theatre from the oral to textual and finally into visual and

the changes in the orientation of visuals in each phases of its history.

Kerala has a great theatre tradition with Koodiyattam6 recognised as the extension

of Sanskrit theatrical tradition. Apart from classical drama art forms like Koodiyattam

and Kathakali7, Kerala has also a rich tradition of performance and folk arts pertaining to

different regions and the beliefs and customs as practiced in those regions. It has

borrowed from different cultures; like that of Chavittu Natakam8 where indigenous art

6
Koodiyattam which means acting together is a classical dramtic art form of Kerala that was practiced in
temples from the eighth century CE. It evolved into a full dramatic representation from its dance form by
the fifteenth century CE.
7
The traditional dance drama of Kerala that evolved during the seventeenth century CE from another art
form called Krishnanattam. Kottarakkara Thampuran is said to be the patron who initiated the artform. The
lyrics written for this is named as Aattakkadha.
8
Chavittu Natakam which means a drama performance made by stamping foots. It is a Latin Christian
traditional dance drama that has similarities with the Western Opera. It flourished during sixteenth century
CE and said to have originated as part of the cultural blend that occurred by the arrival of Portugese in
Kerala.
 6

forms of Kerala are crafted along with the tales and practices of European arts. Hence,

Kerala has divergent theatre practices that co-relate and co-exist in its cultural scenario.

This diversity in itself creates a problem in defining the term Kerala theatre. It is to be

made clear that, what is defined in this dissertation as Kerala theatre is the stage-drama

that has its oldest extant origin in Koodiyattam, its development and shift from the

classical through the Tamil Sangeeta Natakam, its establishment as a literary genre in

Malayalam through the publication of a Malayalam translation of Sakuntalam (1882), its

hype in realism, its transition towards the roots movement and its ultimate shift towards a

visual-oriented art rather than a visual-art. It is to be clarified that this dissertation deals

with the folk and traditional theatre forms only whenever a reference is demanded.

The dilemma of whether to use Kerala theatre or Malayalam theatre 9 is again

an issue to be sorted out before starting any discussion from and where we can take off

any discussion regarding the genre of theatre and drama in Kerala. If we classify the

evolution of Kerala theatre into three stages that are orality, textuality and visuality it

become easy for us to deconstruct the existing meaning attributed to the terms Kerala

theatre or Malayalam theatre to the theatre practices in Kerala. Koodiyattom, the

enactment of Sanskrit drama is treated to be the initial form of theatre in Kerala. All the

traditional or classical art forms in Kerala follow the dramaturgical devices mentioned by

Bharata in his Natyasastra. Therefore Koodiyattom relies on the concept of minimal

script where text is not given much importance but the improvisation done by the trained

actor is what is to be counted as performance. Thus there were no fixed text in front of

9
The usage Malayalam theatre will account to a linguistic bias on the productions that are done as part of
Kerala theatre. There are both multi-lingual and non-verbal performances coming as part of the theatre
practices in Kerala, and yet the usage Malayalam theatre is due to the bias in the already written histories
that concentrated on dramas written in Malayalam language as Kerala theatre.
 7

the performer to by heart and deliver on the stage, his body was the text with which he

would communicate a major portion of the play. A single line is recited many times until

the actor with his psycho-physical capabilities will improvise the orally learned and

trained expressions through his body. This stage can be denoted as an oral stage or

orality where written text has least impact in the performance. Due to the rigidity in actor

training and the enactment of regular themes from puranas and its highly Sanskritized

frame stagnated the growth or evolution of this art form into a future theatre that can be

labelled as naturally evolved from a traditional theatre practice of Kerala.

Then another stream of theatre that evolved was only in the eighteenth century,

through the innumerable translations of Sanskrit as well as European works as a result of

colonisation and the Western education. This formed an elite category who found

immense pleasure in translating the works of Kalidasa or Shakespeare. Also realism and

prose drama became the most accepted theatre phenomena during this period. The result

was an inclination towards literary texts and rhetorical skills in theatre. The number of

publications in theatre increased even with compromising the literary qualities; delivering

a dialogue with maximum length without any mistake became the aesthetical merit of the

day. This emphasis on the text can be treated as a period of textuality in Kerala theatre

that has also paved way in defining the theatre in Kerala as Malayalam theatre taking

into consideration the prominence of Malayalam prose drama as a canon that is treated as

the theatre of Kerala.

 8

The post-independence period witnessed a huge transition in the theatre scenario

of Kerala with the establishment of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi10 and the School

of Drama11 in Thrissur. These institutions, especially, Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi

began to introduce new schemes for theatre practitioners all over Kerala and they also

began to conduct state level Amateur and Professional drama competitions since 1978.

The School of Drama promoted theatre arts students to conduct more experiments with

form and content. This was also a period when the theatre of roots12 movement began to

flourish in Kerala. All these activities gained momentum and resulted in a tangential

move in the history of Kerala theatre, a shift towards developing a new visual language

for theatre, the pros and cons of which are still to be assessed by researchers in the field.

For the past five years Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Akademi has been conducting an

International Theatre Festival of Kerala (2008-2013), which has also contributed to the

increased sensibility of both the practitioners and spectators on various theatres around

the globe.

The flourishing of cinema and the global transition and inclination towards

multimedia and visuality is encroaching the space of an art form like drama. Theatre

10
Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi founded on 26 April 1958, under the Department of Culture,
nourishes and encourages various forms of dance, music, drama and folk arts of Kerala. Apart from this
basic aim, the Akademi undertakes the documentation and preservation of art forms that are rare,
historically important and under the threat of extinction.
<http//:www.keralasangeethanatakaakademi.com/home.php>
11
School of Drama established in 1977, is a foremost institution in India giving academic training in the
practical and theoretical aspects of Drama and Theatre, which has created a new wave in the Theatre
outlook of Kerala. <http//:www.universityofcalicut.info/news/SCHOOLOFDRAMACourses1.pdf>
12
The term Theatre of Roots was first used by Suresh Awasthi in his article Theatre of Roots: Encounter
with Tradition (1989) to represent theatre practices that evolved as part of modern theatres encounter with
tradition. The offshoot of this zeal towards tradtion can be seen in the concept of thanatu natakavedi in
Kerala theatre which is discussed in detail in the second chapter of this dissertation.
 9

practitioners around the world are trying to incorporate the idea of a remediated theatre

where new forms of visuality are given prominence over the written text. Theatre is

slowly becoming a visual-oriented art where all the other devices of performance are

back grounded by the visual text. In an evolutionary juncture where the existence of

theatre is continuously threatened by other highly mediated visual arts, together with the

fact that theatre is in any way not contributing to the base capital of a state or a nation13,

theatre artists are forced to make productions that are acceptable for the neo-spectator14.

The attempts to politicise aesthetics often lead to an eventual mass deception. When an

art form transforms into a mass deception, it will also affect the sensibility and culture of

a society that is actively involved in its promotion and propagation. This forms a section

on the discussion of the current crisis faced by Kerala theatre in the third chapter of this

dissertation. The existence of multiple streams of theatre practices emerging from various

parts of Kerala and the representation of only certain work of arts as the theatre of Kerala

is becoming a highly debated issue in the theatre scenario of Kerala.

This dissertation is never attempting to imagine Kerala theatre as a homogenized

entity, nor is an attempt made to define it in terms of regional language or politics. The

term Kerala theatre is used as a matter of convenience to denote every dramatic

production made in or represented as part of the theatre practices in Kerala. Then the

question arises on what really constitutes the Kerala theatre. If what is being

13
Ramesh Varma, a theatre critic, practitioner and academician in Kerala commented that the need to
commodify theatre, as a situation specific to Kerala theatre because theatre is not contributing to the base
capital of the state. Hence it is seen as an unnecessary art form in the social sphere of Kerala.
14
The use of the term neo-spectator is to signify that even though theatre practices in Kerala are said to be
site specific, it is no longer regional in nature. A play produced in the background of Kerala is meant for an
international audience and hence the nature of seeing a play is influenced by a lot of cultural factors and
technicalities that contest its own identity as belonging to a particular region.
 10

represented is not the reality, it is important to analyse the politics behind the

representations on and off stage of Kerala theatre. For this it is necessary for us to

understand the different strands of theatres in Kerala. A review through the studies done

so far in theatre could serve us with more details on the ways of research undertaken, the

politics of representations and the silences in certain texts that speak more than the

written words in the book.

Methodology

As the aim of this dissertation is to study the visual in contemporary Kerala

theatre, viewing become an important activity. In the Preface to Vision and Visuality

Hal Foster comments:

Although vision suggests sight as a physical operation, and visuality sight

as a social fact, the two are not opposed as nature to culture: vision is

social and historical too, and visuality involves the body and pysche. Yet

neither are they identical: here, the difference within the visual- between

the mechanism of sight and its historical techniques, between the datum of

vision and its discursive determinations- a difference, among how we see,

how we are able, allowed or made to see, and how we see this seeing or

the unseen therein. With its own rhetoric and representations, each scopic

regime seeks to close out these differences: to make of its many social

visualities one essential vision, or to order them in a natural hierarchy of

sight. (ix)
 11

Considering the importance of vision and the need to catch the ephemeral in

theatre, in this dissertation it is attempted to conduct a detailed case study of the visual

designs employed by five contemporary theatre directors in Kerala by analysing their

respective productions. Thus viewing the plays selected for case studies and using the

video records of the plays is among the primary resources for doing this study. The idea

of viewing and that of vision as an amalgam of various other elements apart from an

innocent observance from a pair of eyes has revamped the dimensions on vision, visual

and visuality in different fields of study. According to Maaikie Bleeker:

Vision in a wide variety of fields has begun to open our eyes to the

complexity of what easily, but mistakenly, is taken for granted as just

looking. Growing awareness of the inevitable entanglement of vision with

what is called visuality the distinct historical manifestations of visual

experience-draws attention to the necessity of locating vision with a

specific historical and cultural situation. (01)

The located-ness of vision is not only a historical or culture specific issue; rather

it is also associated with the milieu where the viewer locates oneself in relation to the

visual. Therefore with regards to this study, the video recording of the plays provide a

different visual scenario that would enable the researcher to dissect the visuals and close

study the elements of visual language and design employed by a particular director. The

video recording is used as a tool to capture the real event that created the specific visuals

and their possible visualities. As, Nicholas Mirzoeff observes, A photograph necessarily

shows us something that was at a certain point actually before the cameras lens. This

image is dialectical because it sets up a relationship between the viewer in the present and
 12

the past moment of space or time that it represents (07). Likewise the video recording of

a play locates the viewer in a comparatively objective position that enables one to

consider the performance in fragments. There is a possible flaw in such a proposal if it is

a study on the performance aspect of a play. As this study further narrows down to

explicate significant visual patterns, the method is successful to the extent that the viewer

is located outside the entire event that occurred in the theatre that would have possibly

affected one in a subjective manner.

The visual patterns developed by a director would initiate a series of visuals that

communicate with the viewer as a set of discursive formations. All the plays were

performed during any of the five editions of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala.

Each plays are dissected and analysed, so as to understand the elements of visuality in

them. The plays selected for case studies are divided into action units and the consequent

scenography and the construction of each visual element of every play is subjected to

close study and supplemented with separate tables giving details of the play (for more

details see Appendix G, 328). This attempt is crucial regarding the research because this

methodology is considered as a primary reference for writing the third chapter of this

dissertation that focuses on the construction of visual in contemporary theatre practices

in Kerala.

The description of visuals of the performance of select plays in the third chapter

of this dissertation follows the pattern of thick description by Clifford Geertz, in his

book The Interpretation of Cultures (1973). Thick description is used as a qualitative

research method in social sciences, especially in anthropological writings. Geertz himself

described the need for thick description because in anthropological writings, what
 13

really are elaborated by the anthropologists are their own constructions about the

constructions of other peoples culture (9). Ponterotto clarifies it as, For a reader of

anthropological work to gauge for herself or himself the credibility of the authors

interpretations, the context under which these interpretations were made must be richly

and thickly described (539). Likewise, in this dissertation, thick description of the visuals

of the performance is used as a qualitative method to close study the visuals of the plays, in

order to understand the deeper plays that constructs the visuals in the cultural context of

Kerala. While Geertz uses the concept of deep play in relation to the symbolic triumph that

the victors of the Balinese cockfight have over the losers inside their community, in this

dissertation the word deep play signifies the purpose, politics and ideologies of or to which

the contemporary directors are subjected to, while they produce visuals for their plays.

Together with the analysis and interpretation of contemporary plays with the

recorded documents, a literary survey is done about the existing body of research works

on theatre in Kerala. The aim of the review is to substantiate the relevance of this

research as a fresh attempt to approach the study on theatre practices of Kerala. As visual

culture is constituted with visual events, through visual technologies that transfer

information, meaning and pleasure (Mirzoeff 01) it is inevitably linked to history. Visual

culture is a necessarily historical subject, based on the recognition to exterior reality at

particular moments of modernity (Mirzoeff 07). Therefore the history of theatre

practices in Kerala always serves as a background to this study, so that the transition

towards visually oriented theatre can be clearly demarcated. This would enable us to

think critically about the opposition of text-based theatre to more visually oriented

theatre is itself a product of the scopic regime of modernity and itself supportive of its
 14

object immanent (rather than relational understanding of visuality) (Bleeker 03). The

effect of which would be a study that is deviant from the regime of what, Mirzoeff and

theorists on visual culture pointed out as an offshoot of visual crisis of culture due to the

proliferation of print culture during modernity that resulted in a postmodern culture at its

peak when in visual (Mirzoeff 04).

Review of Literature

To calculate the age of Kerala theatre, the publication of Sakuntalam in 1882 is

regarded as the birth of Malayalam prose drama by historians. Confining to this date,

theatre in Malayalam or Keralas drama-stage has celebrated its centenary in 1982 and

completed another thirty years post to its centenary in 2012. Like any emerging genre,

drama has also been propagated through publications which in the first phase were the

major translations of play texts from Sanskrit and English. But it also had often reduced

drama into a readable text rather than a performed text. The post independence period

showed a radical difference in this approach and considerable attention is given to the

studies related to the practice of theatre in Kerala. As the theatre researchs

methodological modes of inquiry are still in their infancy (Chaturvedi 66) and there

does not exist any personal accounts on how theatre was in its infancy in Kerala, the

minimal body of literary works, in most of the cases, can only skim through the main

subject areas like description of ritual, folk and traditional art forms; major years of

publication of literary texts or with a list of the major tributaries to the Kerala theatre in

the pre-independence scenario.

 15

If we assess the amount of theatre studies done so far in Kerala when compared to

the studies undertaken in Indian theatre, it is evident that theatre studies as an episteme in

Kerala had any hold only after the 1940s. A chronological classification of the existing

body of literature can be made in association with certain movements, historical events

and cultural events that are related to Kerala theatre. On behalf of that, four chronological

categories on the major periods of publications on Kerala theatre can be:

1. Post-independence period (1947-1960), which has very few books mostly written to

introduce Western dramatists their techniques and plays and how should it be creatively

adapted into Kerala theatre.

2. Post-Nataka Kalari15 period (1960-1980), includes writings that drew inspiration from

the Nataka Kalari movement that started in1967 with a workshop on theatre at

Sasthamkotta in Kerala. There are books that also came as a protest against the themes

developed in this movement.

3. Centenary of Malayalam theatre and the subsequent years (1980-2007), is a period that

energized the publishing industry to produce books that trace the trajectory of the

evolution of Malayalam prose drama and to propose the schemes for the future

development of different theatres of Kerala.

4. ITFoK period (2008-2012), the cluster of texts that come under this period is

generated, after the advent of theatre festivals, especially, International Theatre Festival

of Kerala; from the knowledge that theatre is still valued by people and with the

awareness that there is a novel sensibility in the spectators to know more about theatre

15
Nataka Kalari movement has revolutionized the treatment of form and content of theatre in Kerala and it
is discussed in detail in the second chapter of this dissertation.
 16

practices not only in Kerala but also around the world, their enthusiasm to know not only

literature but also the technicalities and the cultural as well as economic aspects of

different theatres.

Now, the later part would try to provide an overview of the theatre research

undertaken so far starting from the post independence period. The select review is a

sampling made to analyse the trend of studies done since the post independence period.

The texts are selected as representative of or written by the representatives of the cross

section of different theatre ideologies in prominence during the time frame of the

publication of these texts.

Part One: Post-Independence Period (1947-1960) to Post-Nataka Kalari Period (1960-

1980):

As there was no great work of scholarship in the area during the post

independence period the selected works here are Naveena Natakadarsam [Concepts of

Modern Drama] (1939) by Mekolla Parameswara Pillai and Uyarunna Yavanika: Nataka

Sastram [The Raising Curtain: The Science of Drama] (1950) by C.J.Thomas. The post-

independence period saw the establishment of prose drama and realism as a mainstream

genre in Kerala theatre. The critical concerns of theatre of this period were neither to look

at the exotic literary qualities of a text nor to conduct new experiments with form. Rather

the thoughts on theatre channelized in either of the two directions: one in creating a

theatre that can move masses for a social cause and the other on more individualistic

realm of home, relationships and the question of identity. The plays produced in the
 17

second group were most probably adaptations of Ibsen, Moliere, Shaw or exact

translations of Shakespearean plays.

In this context, Naveena Natakadarsam is a text that explicitly proclaims the need

of theatre studies in Kerala that would improve the knowledge of the people involved in

it so that it would lead to better productions in future. Though the text does not give any

direct hints to the theatre trends in Kerala of that period, it was an active critiquing on the

proliferation of prose dramas that were mere adaptations or translations of Western plays.

In the Preface to Naveena Natakadarsam it is said, Writing a play in the Shakespearean

style was thought to be the novel way to communicate an idea, it was not only a thought

that influenced me but also the entire playwrights of the period (05). The text tries to

introduce new areas of prose drama in Europe like Ibsenism, so that it would enable the

playwrights of Kerala to move away from the conventional Shakespearean style of

approaching an idea. The inefficacy of Keralites in forming a theatrical form of their own

and their dependence on either the earlier forms of Sanskrit drama or Western prose

drama is the reason put forward by the author for the stunted growth of Kerala theatre.

The cry is, not to stick on to the ancient theatrical techniques in the name of a national

tradition and at any chance if subsequent adoption of Western forms is practiced, then to

do it not as imitation but as a creative adaptation of forms. Naveena Natakadarsam

through its chapters introduces Greek theatre, Imagist drama, Realist drama and most of

the other major theatre movements in Europe. The second half of the text concentrates on

how to divide acts, characterisation, dialogue and presentation in drama. But apart from

the earnest suggestions and plea in the Preface, the text is only an expression of the

scholarship and voracious reading on European drama by the author.

 18

C.J.Thomas, as a dramatist, was a visionary who came much ahead of his time.

Most of his plays remained as readable texts during his life time because they owed an

aesthetic standard and quality of experimental aptitude that cannot be quantified by any

of the yardsticks of Kerala theatre of the post independence period. Uyarunna Yavanika:

Natakasastram (1950) is significant in defining theatre as a science that has to be studied

through observations and experiments as the title suggests raising curtain: the science of

drama. Uyarunna Yavanika consists of fourteen write ups on different topics related to

Kerala theatre. The broader themes are evaluation of drama as a popular art form in

Kerala, its origin from other art forms, the need for a permanent theatre space in Kerala,

criticism on the underdeveloped status of all the theatrical components like acting, music,

rhetoric, stage design and good literature that is pulling down Kerala theatre. The work is

very optimistic about the future of Kerala theatre, practical suggestions are given to

increase the number of Nataka Samitis all over Kerala and to promote youths in schools

and colleges to start theatre groups that will engage them with both the traditional and

modern theatre, to initiate new experiments in theatre and finally to understand theatre as

a powerful tool to move masses from the deception of television and radio. Regarding the

dramatic literature, the proposition given is that it will develop only if a play sees the

stage, therefore the demand is for the government to promote theatre activities as a

preliminary step. Providing town halls and cinema talkies for a low rent may help in

reducing the ticket charges and thereby the increase of more spectators of theatre.

Uyarunna Yavanika is different from Naveena Natakadarsam as it is written by a

theatre activist rather than a theatre enthusiast. But there is a certain tendency in the

former to approximate that only realist prose drama with propaganda is the only
 19

legitimate theatre possible in Kerala. Also in tracing the origin and development of

theatre in Kerala the biases often lead to the extreme Marxist views like judging the rural

theatre as more belonging to the people than urban and traditional forms because it is the

common folk who scripts and stage the play. This has also led the author to make

separate sections on propagandist theatre of the post independence period that affected

the whole structure of the argument of the text. But to end in a positive note, the text is a

successful attempt to present the observations and need for experiments to be done in

Kerala theatre in its move towards an organic work of art.

Next cluster of works come under the Post-Nataka Kalari period (1960-1980), the

texts selected for review are Nataka Darpanam [The Mirror on Drama] (1971) by

N.N.Pillai, Nataka Kalari (1972) by C.J.Smaraka Samiti and Rangavatharanam [Stage

Representations] (1979) a compilation of articles by a group of authors. Nataka Kalari as

mentioned earlier, is a movement that started in 1967 in Sasthamkotta that changed the

way theatre was perceived in Kerala till that point of time. The details of the movement

and the pioneers of the movement are all discussed in detail in the second chapter of this

dissertation. Inspired by the ideas of this series of workshops serious discussions,

seminars and symposiums took place in different parts of Kerala on the problems of

realist drama and the conventions related to it. The aim was to evolve a meaningful

theatre that began by a strand of experimental theatre activities that established itself

through the foundation of The School of Drama in Thrissur in 1978-79. This period

should be observed for the change in the approach of the studies produced on theatres for

two reasons; firstly, more practitioners began to write about the branch of theatre towards

which they were inclined. Secondly, the objectives of the studies started to glide towards
 20

more objective criticisms on the theatre forms, the technicalities of writing a script for

drama so on and so forth.

N.N. Pillai is a leading director in the stream of Professional Drama in Kerala.

Pillai started a professional theatre group Visvakerala Kala Samithi in 1952. Being both a

scholar and a practitioner of theatre Pillai has experimented and adapted the absurdist

theatre form in Kerala. Nataka Darpanam (1971) is a text written for the purpose of

explaining the methods of directing a play. Nataka Darpanam tries to negotiate with four

thrust areas. 1. An attempt to define drama on par with life, its structure and its relation

with the spectator 2. Theories on stage craft 3. On the selection of character, things to be

taken care of during the rehearsals of a play and when it is ultimately presented on a stage

and 4. The different styles of directing a play. The text has a linear progression starting

from the definition of theatre to the anthropological connections that makes human

communications. The analysis is centred around an individual, his basic drives, the

situations in which he posts himself, the character that might make his situation simple or

complex and not the least the social condition in which the person is situated. Then

connections are made with this assumption on the importance of plot, character, dialogue

and action with the five stages of a play in order to link it with factors such as moral

prejudices that help the audience to respond to the play.

In the second part, the text moves to the technical aspects of making a play

starting with the role of the director in a play, then through the measurement of a stage,

the need of a prompt book, stage movements, time frame of each movement, voice

modulation, selection of the cast and crew, rehearsal time frame, presentation and finally

introduction of different theatre forms dividing it into presentation and representation. By

 21

styles of presentation Pillai tries to define the traditional theatre that always considers

stage as a platform for presenting an idea whereas representation is focused on the willing

suspension of disbelief and considering what is on the stage as a real event. Also short

descriptions on Epic theatre and Expressionism are added to this chapter. The text is an

assemblage of expertise and knowledge on the theatre forms and practices of Europe and

a simple description of theories of Western drama.

Nataka Kalari (1972) a collection of speeches done as part of a annual memorial

lecture on C.J.Thomas has a very biased yet critical approach where anxiety towards the

status of Kerala theatre if it relies more on absolute realism is represented as a larger

theme of all the speeches. The importance and need for a good dramatic literature, the

contestation and rivalry between amateur and professional dramatists, the two major

streams of theatre and the adverse effect that creates in the standard of theatre in Kerala

and the diminishing standards of the audience due to the diminishing quality of theatre

are discussed and debated. Another section includes detailed study of the plays scripted

and directed by the group of people who started experimentation with form and subject

matter, mainly the studies on the directors who are part of the theatre of roots movement

in Kerala.

Rangavatharanam (1979) as its preface signifies is the first illuminating work in

Malayalam theatre studies that describes with clarity and precision, the many levels of

understanding theatre, by classifying all the major devices of theatre under the category

of old and new approaches. The text, under four major chapters discusses upon the old

and new approaches to direct a play, the ways in which the acting space or stage was

constructed in earlier times, how it has shifted in the modern age, what all are the
 22

differences between the old and new schools in using lighting, costumes make-up, and

acting. In the final chapter all the factors of old and new theatre is related and compared

with the old and new horizons of expectation of the spectator. The text is still a pioneer

reference text for any theatre enthusiast to enquire and understand about the nuances of

theatre as a whole.

Part Two: Centenary of Malayalam theatre and the subsequent years (1980-2007) and the

ITFoK period (2008-2012):

The period from 1980 to 2012 saw the flourishing of theatre research in Kerala,

the centenary period enlightened the theatre practitioners to trace a history of Kerala

theatre and also to analyse the merits and drawbacks of theatre of the past hundred years.

A list of major works will be, three texts by G.Sankarapillai, Malayala Nataka Sahitya

Charitram [The Literary History of Malayalam Drama] (1987), Ibsente Nataka

Sankalpam [Ibsens Concept of Theatre] (1987) and Natakadarsanam [The Ideology of

Theatre] (1990), then Malayala Nataka Sarvasvam [An Encyclopaedia on Malayalam

Drama] (1990) by Madavoor Bhasi, Malayala Natakam Grandha Padavum Ranga

Padavum [Malayalam Drama: Dimensions on Literary Text and Performance Text]

(1991) by Dr. G.Gangadharan Nair, N.Krishnapillayude Nataka Chinthakal

[N.Krishnapillais Thoughts on Theatre] (1992) by N.Krishnapillai, The History of KPAC

(2002) by Vallikkavu Mohandas, Natya Siddhantham [Theories on Theatre] (2002) by

C.S Biju, Malayala Nataka Sahitya Charitram 2005 [The Literary History of Malayalam

Drama 2005] (2005) by Vayala Vasudevan Pillai, Pareekshana Pravanathakal Malayala

Natakathil [Experimental Tendencies in Malayalam Theatre] (2005) by

Dr.L.Thomaskutty, Thanatu Kavitha,Thanathu Natakam [Reflections on Indigenous

 23

Poetry and Indigenous Drama] (2007) by Prof.P.Narayana Kurup and Nataka

Padanangal [Studies on Theatre] (2007) by Panmana Ramachandran Nair.

Malayala Nataka Sahitya Charitram (1987) is again one text appreciated for the

efforts made to compile the history of dramatic literature till the 1970s. The text is a

reference for any theatre researcher to know the theatre movements and the exact year of

publications and primary information regarding the major plays that occurred during

particular political or cultural situation in Kerala. As G. Sankarapillai, was one among the

major exponents of the theatre of roots and he was also the first Director of The School of

Drama, his passion for the idea of a meaningful theatre and the insistence of a theatrical

form naturally evolved from the traditional theatres of Kerala; the history provide by the

author has at times also reached to a level of cynicism on Malayalam Prose drama and the

entire evolutionary trend of Kerala theatre. The text is either silent or short in speaking

the history of Professional drama. A tint of favouritism towards certain dramatists has

also yielded a red mark for the book by researchers who search for a compact history of

Kerala theatre.

Malayala Nataka Sarvasvam is a counter narrative to G. Sankarapillais text, in

the Preface of this text one of the major critics of Malayalam Prof. Gupthan Nair

commented, History of Drama is not history of dramatic literature, and history of drama

is in turn the history of actors, of the stage, of a way of living practiced by so many

people (x). The text is written in an alphabetical order like an encyclopaedia on Kerala

theatre. The author is successful in collecting almost all the details of all streams of

dramas and dramatists without losing the objectivity at any point of time. Malayala

Nataka Sarvasam also serves as a major reference in this dissertation.

 24

Malayala Natakam Grandhapadavum Rangapadavum (1991) by G. Gangadharan

is a carefully studied text that suggests for the proper evolution of theatre and its

productive relation to its literature. The lack of this sort of coherence makes Keralas

drama practices inferior and younger to its dramatic literature written in Malayalam. The

neglect by the directors towards the need for a text that gives prominence to performance

rather than literary beauty is failing the theatre of Kerala. The second chapter draws the

evolutionary phases of dramtic literature from the translation of Sakuntalam (1882) by

Keralavarma Valiya Koyi Thampuran to N. Krishnapillais Bhagna Bhavanam (1942)

which is an adaptation of Ibsens A Dolls House (1879). The third chapter is significant

in its reading on the development of stage craft from the period of Jenova Natakam16 to

Nataka Kalari movement. It also list out the individuals and organisations that influenced

the shift in the way of representation in acting, costume and other stage arrangements.

The third chapter discusses on the marginalisation of directors and stage engineers in

theatre and urge for a comprehensive development and synthesis between the literature

and theatre. The study on experimental theatres in Kerala by Dr. L.Thomaskutty is also

helpful to complement and extend the discussions given by the text by G. Gangadharan.

Two major publications on the theatre of Kavalam Narayana Panicker, one an

anthology with critical studies on each of his plays by eminent scholars in Kerala titled

Kavalam Natakangal [The Plays of Kavalam] (2008) and the other a research work by

Dr. Raja Warrier titled Keralathile Theatrum Kavalam Natakangalum [The Theatres of

Kerala and the Significance of Kavalam Plays] (2008) serve as a strong evidence to

represent the tug of war between the differing concepts on modern theatre between the

16
Jenova Natakam is among the major stories that were used in Chavittu Natakam.
 25

old school and new school of theatre practitioners stemming from the same origin, the

Nata Kalari movement and the theatre of roots movement. In this phase, Kerala theatre is

slowly drifting towards a festival culture with the launch of the International Theatre

Festival of Kerala in 2008. Theatre festival became a common platform for both the

spectators and practitioners inside Kerala theatre to gather around and discuss on the

world theatre and the status of Kerala theatre in this global era. Even though we are

unable to locate a proper area where most of the research work concentrates at this point

of time, a short list of the publications of this period guides us to look a publishing

culture of producing self help books to make dramas. A list of major publications would

be, Oru Natakam Enganeyundakunnu [How a Play is Formed] (2009) by Vayala

Vasudevan Pillai, Natakam Padavum Prayogavum [Drama: Text and its Application on

Stage] (2009) by Dr. N.R.Gramaprakash, Malayala Natakam Prarambha Swaroopam

[The Initial Form of Malayalam Drama] (2010) by Matthew J Muttath, Jaiva Nataka Vedi

[An Introduction to Organic Theatre] (2011) by Dr. L.Thomaskutty, Nataka Rachana

Enth Engane [What is Play-writing? How is it done?] (2012) and finally Nataka Vijnana

Kosam [Encyclopaedia on Theatre] (2012). The targeted readers to these texts are neither

practitioners nor researchers but common people, with the aim of creating a fundamental

awareness on theatre in public.

The review of literature reveals that, in the earlier researches conducted in

Kerala, on theatre history and practice, no attempts were made to study how the visual is

constructed in each historical period. Therefore the written histories as well as the other

theoretical texts books produced in Kerala are insufficient in giving an account on the

visual orientation of Kerala theatre in several historical periods. Hence the relevance of
 26

this dissertation is in its attempt to trace the visual orientation of Kerala theatre through

ages.

Interview Method

Interviews always give us firsthand information on our area of research and can

be included as an authentic resource that would provide substantial ground on the

particular aspects on which we concentrate while conducting a research. Being a research

that attempts to construct a record on the specific visual language patterns that evolve in

the contemporary theatre scenario of Kerala, this research focuses more on the major

theatre groups and their directors that flourish in Kerala in the turn of this century. The

interview is very selective in the sense that, the people interviewed as part of this work

include directors that came up with prominent signatures on the visual designs of their

groups and theatre critics who are also practitioners and researchers in this field. They

were interviewed to include their opinions on the current trends in Kerala theatre. Actors

and scenographers are unavoidable during a research that tries to read the semiotics and

cultural politics behind the visual of any particular theatre; therefore they are also a part

of the interview. The research will hold no grounds without an attempt to include the

shared experiences of people who are active in the field.

The main aim of conducting interviews with eminent theatre persons in Kerala

was to understand the major trends in Kerala theatre. Apart from this, the field work also

enabled me to understand different categorisations and other issues faced by Kerala

theatre in the present socio-political scenario. From my observation, Kerala theatre is in a

struggle with the modernist concepts and its implementation. There exists two major
 27

strands of opinion about what is to be defined as Kerala theatre, from which period

should we start the theatre history of Kerala, and if at all we start what all should be

included and excluded. Another problem is the professional, amateur and experimental

theatres and the lack of theatre facilities in Kerala. A major inquiry of most of the

interviews conducted was to understand how each of the artists position themselves in the

context of Indian and Kerala theatre, to understand their concepts of theatre and how they

try to create or perceive a visual language with their respective ideas on theatre.

The interviews were conducted in an informal and unstructured way, so that, the

artists were not restricted with specific questionnaires to be answered. The reason for

adopting such a method is that they would be able to express whatever opinion they have

in their mind about the theatre practices in Kerala. Questions were framed as pointers

from what they already said, so that specific points where further clarification is

demanded can be taken up by the interviewer as the next question to be asked to the

interviewee. The attempted structure of the interview depended on the primary

knowledge about the kind of theatre practiced by the interviewee, general questions about

the history of Kerala theatre, their concept of theatre, the way they do theatre and specific

questions included the importance they give to the theatrical components like actor, stage

design, costumes, dialogue, literary text etc.

Some interviews were conducted by fixing the date and time as per the

convenience of the interviewer and thereby most of them were done in their residence or

institutions they are affiliated to. Some others were random interviews collected as part of

the assembling of different theatre artists for the Fifth International Theatre Festival of

Kerala (2013) conducted by the Ministry of Culture of Kerala State Government together
 28

with Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Thrissur. The major artists interviewed include

Kavalam Narayana Panicker, Kaladharan, Artist Sujathan, Naripatta Raju, Raja Warrier,

Ramesh Varma, M.G.Jyothish, Sankar Venkateswaran etc (for more details see Appendix

A, 232).

The interviews reveal details about the ways in which each of them approach

theatre, the major projects they have done so far, their experience in this field and their

specific positions in Kerala theatre; the intricacies involved in their productions and how

they approach a literary text and transform it into a visual text. The opinions that they

have on the different socio-political and cultural issues that influence in creating a visual

text have been valuable hyperlinks that were useful to the major concerns of this research

(for excerpts of select interviews see Appendix B, 234).

Participant Observation

As part of my research, I also took part in two theatre activities; one was the Fifth

International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) (2013) and the other was a two day

workshop and interaction with Kavalam Narayana Panicker conducted by Theatre Hut,

Kottayam. The main aim of participating in the theatre festival was not simply to be a

theatre goer; instead it was a chance to close study the nature of festivals, the type of

plays included in the festival and to interact with the theatre practitioners all over the

world. Another major factor that attracted me to participate in the festival was that most

of the plays I selected for case studies are those that appeared in the first editions of this

theatre festival, also as I mentioned in the book review, ITFoK itself is transforming into

a major cultural event in the history of Kerala theatre.

 29

The Fifth International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFoK) concentrated on

introducing European theatre practices to theatre enthusiasts in Kerala. Apart from that it

also included traditional theatre performances of Kerala like Mudiyettu17. The dramas that

won the state awards in Amateur drama competition conducted by Kerala Sangeetha

Nataka Akademi were staged as part of the festival. The major interactive sessions

organised as part of the festival were the Director in Dialogue and ITFoK Seminars.

The former included an interaction with the directors of the respective plays selected for

the festival where as the latter was conducted by different scholars as well as theatre

practitioners from India and Europe. The theme of the seminars were centred on

Contemporary Theatre Practices in which discussions regarding cultural value,

scenography, curatorship, philosophy, being and becoming in theatre etc. were discussed.

Most of the speeches of the seminar were recorded as a part of the resources to this work.

The workshop organised by Theatre Hut, Kottayam was a rare chance to

understand and interact with the theatre personae Kavalam Narayana Panicker and his

methods of doing theatre. The workshop included an interactive session where the use of

music, the way of rendition of dialogues, the selection of themes and several different

topics were discussed together with a demonstration of the same by the artists of his

group. At the end of the programme there was also a solo performance of the multilingual

play Antharyami based on the works of Tagore. The valuable inputs and the experience

as a participant in these programmes serves as a useful tool of reading and dissecting the

17
A traditional ritual art form of Kerala used to appease the goddess Kali during the temple festivals. The
word Mudiyettu means the lifting of hair or crown. In this performance the actor as part of his costume
carries Mudi on his head and is seen as the incarnation of Kali during the performance.
 30

plays considered for this research in connection to the cultural backdrop of the space in

which they were produced, performed and evaluated.

Chapter Divisions

The first chapter titled A Survey of Kerala Theatre History from 1800s till

1950s traces the history of Kerala theatre in relation to the kinds of visual patterns

evolved in each phase of its evolution till the 1950s. Considering the non-availability of

a text that speaks simultaneously about all the major phases of Kerala theatre and the

performance history in each phase, the attempt in this chapter is to trace the remarkable

shifts in the visual orientation of theatre through the experiments of theatre practitioners

and theatre groups during the above mentioned chronological period.

The second chapter titled In Search of an Identity: Phases of Theatre Movements

in Kerala, examines the major theatre movements in the post independence period that

marked a significant shift in the visual orientation of Kerala theatre. The chapter

examines the role of Nataka Kalari movement, the theatre of roots movement and the

establishment of the School of Drama in strengthening the amateur theatre activities in

Kerala. For this, select plays that are deemed to be the representative models of each of

these movements; which created marked difference in its visual patterns are analysed so

as to note down the shift in the visual during the post-independence period.

The third chapter, Visual Orientation in Contemporary Kerala Theatre: Select

Case Studies, close reads the visual orientation of five contemporary theatre directors of

Kerala. The aim in this chapter is to attempt select case studies on the major productions

by some of the theatre artists and to have an overview of different modes of visual
 31

patterns in contemporary theatres in Kerala. All the plays selected for analysis came as

part of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala and are directed by the alumni of the

School of Drama. The method adopted is to analyse the literary text that inspired the

production, to study how the literary text is perceived by the director and how it is

transformed into a visual text.

The concluding chapter critically analyses the visual orientation in each historical

phases of Kerala theatre discussed in the earlier chapters of this dissertation. The chapter

also puts forth the major findings in relation to the visual orientation of contemporary

directors and projects the future of the kind of visuals created by them.

There are Appendices after the concluding chapter which would give more

clarity to the subject in hand and would provide additional information if any, that is

missed out in the chapters. It can be referred to whenever an indication is given in the

chapters.
 32

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 34

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