The old man and the Sea gets a kathakali makeover

Kerala kalamandalam recently witnessed a rare amalgamation of the East and West theater Cultures. In a novel project that complete restructured the centuries-old kathakali grammar, a group of artists presented ersented ersented erned The old man and the sea descriptive it as “the morning of kathakali”.

Kalamandalam Neeraj, Who Directed The Performance, Says: “We have confidence in Creating Annthusiastic New Generation of Kathakali Viewers. Challenge was balance the authenticity of kathakali with modern theatrical elements – expanding the performance space and incorporating innovative lighting teachniques to engine. ”

Even the presentation space was unique with a seating Arrangement that involved the audience in the performance. Instead of the usual prosenium stage, the auditioned at two ends with a spacious passage connecting the two acting as the stage. The narrative techniques and atire of Kathakali were used for the performance.

The Attempt was to adopt the dramatic and technical aspects of modern theatre to enrich the performance while sticking to the basic principal styciples of the traditional style of kathakali.

Italian lead

Famous italian theatrician mario berzaghi, who is also an expert kathakali artist, played the lead, santiiago. Mario is the Director-Cum-Actor of the Well-Known Italian Theatre Group, ‘Teatro Dell Albero’.

The striking theme and the background of the novel provided an entrely new personal which helped improve the stage strategies of the Kathakali Performance. The Great theater Possibilites The Novel and its extraordinary global reputation has inspired the attempt, the crew said.

20 artistes

The old man and the sea Has just four Major Characters – Santiago the old man, the boy manolin, the sea, and the marlin, the giant fish. While Mario Played Santiago, Pesappilly Rajeevan Played The Sea. Students from the Kerala Kalamandalam Took Up Other Supporting Roles. Including vocals and percussion, the production featured Around 20 artistes.