Ranga Shankara Fest '10: Theyya Theyyam (day 9)

Theyyam can roughly be treated as the re-incarnation of a soul. When Theyyam is being performed, the dead war hero is usually elevated to the status of a God in the eyes of the villagers. Mainly performed in the Malabar region of Kerala, Theyyam is a ritualistic folk art linked to ancient cults. Theyyam is said to be a creation to resist the oppressive social order. It is a combination of dance, theatre and music. The dancer who performs Theyyam transforms into God and through his dance and speech receives adulation and predicts the future.

Variations of the form are also performed in Karnataka too, in South Canara and Coorg districts.

Theyya Theyyam is the story of a villager (Ramunni) who enacts the role of a Theyyam in the village festival, year after year, as it is the right of his family. In the words of Padma Bhushan Sri Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, "The recreation and re-incarnation of the epic theme of Ramayana in the creative mind of the rustic provides one theme of the plot. Parallel to the epic stream there is another flow of the plot -- the story of the human beings who transform into the characters in the play."

Founded in Kerala in 1964, Sopanam Institute of Performing Arts and Research under the leadership of Sri. Kavalam Narayana Panikkar explores the basic principles of theatre and performance aesthetics through a series of dramatic productions, workshops, seminars, festivals, publications and interactions. It is committed to Sopana Sangeetam, Mohiniattam and contemporary recreations of ancient plays, dramatisations of poems, folk songs, folk tales and performance of new plays.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Theyya Theyyam
• theyyam
• Festival
• ranga shankara
• theatre
• malayalam
• folk