Day 59: Kathakali performance

Kathakali is an artform that emerged around the time of Shakespearean plays but it ties back to temple ritual from the 2nd century. Literally it translates to "story play." The stories are dramatized Hindu epics accompanied by drummers and singers. The script is vocalized but the actors tell the story with hand gestures, or mudras, and facial expressions.

The tales are meant to portray the complexity of human nature - the good, the bad, and the half green (half good) and the half red (half bad). The white knobs on the noses are indications of an evil nature.

The face paint alone takes 1 1/2 hours to apply and the training for all the performers amounts to a mere six years! Certain characters require that the actor place seeds in the eyes to redden the whites and accentuate eye expression. In the play we saw, the green-faced villain had blood red eyes.

The chase...


This is the death scene where one of the princes slays the villain Kichaka.