Very few art forms can unleash limitless energy on stage and Chavittunatakam is one. There is glitter and flamboyance, verve and theatrics, finesse and innovation. From their synchronised stompings to their infectious energy, the participants are all balls of fire. Part dance and part acrobatics, the folk theatre has an infectious vitality and the players add pizazz to it through a variety of hops and skips. At one point the music soars to a mad crescendo and the dancers move as if liquid adrenaline has hit their blood stream.
While the dance drama is often called Christian Kathakali presenting stories related to Christ, saints and kings, the Chavittunatakam competition at Sopanam auditorium was not limited to Carelman Charitham (Charlemagne the Great) or Mahanaya Alexander (Alexander the Great). There were productions on Lord Ayyappa, Joan of Arc and Velu Thampi Dalawa, the contestants performing the art form without losing its stylistic essence.
In snippet form
Since the original plays are quite long, their duration ranging from 2 hours, the competition featured small snippets, mostly three important scenes from a play fit into 20 minutes. In Velu Thampi Dalawa, the troupe chronicled Dalawa’s revolt against the British East India Company and the end where he prefers death to captivity. While William Shakespeare’s renowned play Julius Caesar was picked by a group, the tragic story of Joan of Arc who was burned to death was impressively presented by another.
Though the majority of the teams opted for time-tested plays, none was less impressive in terms of presentation or failed to keep the operatic traditions intact. There were productions that used Tamil or a mix of Tamil and Malayalam to present the play. While the art form was strictly confined to Christian or Western thematic content for a while, new entrants have been creating quite a buzz during the last couple of years.
The biggest challenge is to to stitch together scenes from a very long production without losing the wholeness and nearly all groups presented it without any rhythmic mismatch. According to artists, the repertoire was very limited till a decade back, but though they have started exploring new themes, there is no scope for casual experimentation. While Vishudha Sebastianose presented at the festival is a comparatively new production written around 2015, it is a leaf out of the life of St. Sebastian.
A total of 23 teams participated in the competition held on Saturday.
With a heavy heart
Roy Asan, a senior Chavittunatakam artist who has trained seven teams from five districts, is in Kollam with a heavy heart. Still recovering from the unexpected demise of his 20-year-old daughter Ann Rifta Roy who lost her life in the Cusat stampede, the festival kept reminding him about her favourite events. “Since she was an ICSE student, she never participated in the School Arts Festival, but after Class X she was a part of Vanchipattu and Oppana teams. Though she wanted to join Chavittunatakam team, she couldn’t do that,” says the father. Ann Rifta Roy had started learning the art form at a much younger age and she also enjoyed performing on stage with her father. “My father Georgekutty Aasan was a very popular artist and she was really fond of the art form. She used to tag along during district-level festivals,” he adds.
