Out of the Shadows

Silhouettes of animated,life-sized figures and gargantuan creatures,wearing colourful masks and flamboyant costumes,float about on the stage,played up with shadows and an arresting background score.

Silhouettes of animated,life-sized figures and gargantuan creatures,wearing colourful masks and flamboyant costumes,float about on the stage,played up with shadows and an arresting background score. These are characters from a puppet show,Until Life,who will make their appearance at Delhis Alliance Francaise today. Performed by the Thrissur-based group,Minnaminungukal Puppets Theatre Cie and directed by French sculptor and Kathakali dancer,Brigitte Revelli,the show touches upon various elements of nature that have been ravaged by man.

As for Until Life,the characters in it represent various themes of the play: the arrogant and selfish central character,Erectus-Eradicus; IO (indigenous-oiseaux),a half-man half-bird,that maintains an osmotic relationship with the environment; and a black bird,an alien in their land. The plot unfolds as it explores and questions the ways of the earth. Mythological figures of Bali and Ravana,among others,also feature as the play delves into the human psyche to the folklore associated with nature.

Revelli,who has spent 20 years in Kerela,will bring her own love for contemporary dance,theatre,sculpture and Kathakali into puppetry. In fact,puppetry came much later. I was a contemporary dancer before I came to India and studied Kathakali at Kalamandalam, said Revelli,adding how puppetry became a middle path between Kathakali and sculpture.

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While studying Kathakali,I was also creating sculptures. It was a search for a whole other language. My works are not entirely influenced by the dance form since some of the specificity of Kathakali,like the facial movements,cannot be put into puppetery. But I have taken the figures,make-up and costume from it, says Revelli,who is one of the few female Kathakali dancers in the country.

Driven by a Kathakali workshop in Paris,most of her works are inspired from it. If Maharadhi,one of her first few performances,had puppets as Kathakali dancers,Never for Ever had similar elements amalgamated with the tales of Panchatantra and French poet,Jean de Lafontaines poetry.

The show has already been staged in Puducherry,Chennai and Bangalore and will travel to Chandigarh,Jaipur and Pune next month.

The production will be staged at Alliance Francaise,Lodhi Estate,at 7 pm. Entry is free. Contact: 43500217

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