Within the part of the 10th Theater Olympiad, two puppetry form of theater performances come to Hungary.
Under the leadership of Mr. Ramachandran P. K. K. Kutty, six-person group presents themselves @ Budapest, with special musical accompaniment to the performance giving an insight to their ancient old World.
The traditional Kerala temple shadow play – Keralan Tholpavakoothu puppetry performance @ the Amrita Sher-Gil Cultural Center – District II., 14 Buzavirág Street – Budapest – 5.30 p.m. – 18. April, 2023.
‘Backgroup to the group … Krishnan Kutty Ramachandra Pulavar’s family has been the guardian and follower of an ancient tradition for 12 generations. The Tholpava Koothu, a unique temple shadow play of the Indian state of Kerala, is passed down as a family tradition. Tol-pava-koothu is a complex word, meaning: leather-puppet game, a traditional, ritual art form. The shadow play is based on selected verses from the Tamil epic Kamba Ramayana.
The lectures are in the Tamil dialect with a large number of Sanskrit and Malayalam words. The puppets are made of deerskin, and the canvas is lit with coconut oil candles. The special musical accompaniment of the performance is played with drums, cymbals and bagpipes. Tholpavakooothu performances take place in the koothu madams, a special theater building built next to the Baghawati temples, open from January to May. The performances start around 10 pm and last until dawn. While these performances are simple entertainment for the average audience, the faithful see them as a religious sacrifice. Offerings are made at certain episodes of the story so that the puppeteer prays for them, for prosperity, harvest, wealth, and a good marriage.
Another presentation connected to the 10th Theater Olympiad, the World Puppetry Meeting – the Karakulit International Shadow Play will be held in the City of Pécs for the second time, between 19-23. April, organized by the Márkus Theater. The festival is an interdisciplinary meeting of art history, theater and fine arts, where, in addition to traditional shadow play masters, European modern experimental shadow theaters are also on display. The festival features troupes from more than ten European and Asian countries, including India – the Krishnan Kutty Ramachandra Pulavar family from Kerala will be coming to give an insight into the genre of traditional temple shadow play.
Short intro the Kerala … “Kerala has made a notable contribution towards maintaining and enriching the cultural heritage of India. It has evolved through the centuries a rich and diversified culture which has nourished and become an integral part of culture of India as a whole. Most of the Indian art forms their birth and growth to religion. They are therefore intimately connected with modes of worship. In ancient Kerala the religious practices of the people and their moral mode code were based upon derived from Dravidian culture. But gradually new religious practices and ideals entered Kerala from the North. The result was a blending of the Dravidian culture of the south and the Aryan culture of the north which, it is believed, took place about three or four centuries before Christ as a result of this impact of Aryan religion and culture on the indigenous Dravidian culture of Kerala, Hinduism assumed a new form in Kerala. The influence of this blending of the two cultures, Aryan and Dravidian can be seeing in religious life of people but also in the arts.”
Entry to both programs is free, but registration is required via the website links on the above poster.
Spend an awesome evening being in a different world.
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