Indian kathakali dance-drama videos

Map of the states of India. Kerala, where kathakali comes from, is on the southwest coast.

In class, we watched a video of 'some guy' trying on kathakali makeup and practicing a few of the facial expressions. A brave attempt, given the long and intensive training Tommy described, which professionals feel is necessary before an actor can be seen onstage. Here are a few videos of professionals performing. Of course, there's not enough time in one week for you all to become rasika (connosieurs of the art)! But see if you can start to get a sense from these of what the major character types look like, what the major features of their makeup and costumes are, and how their acting styles differ. What kind of 7 or 9 year old boy might be selected to train for each specific character?

1) Two demonstrations of kathakali eye movements (without makeup)





2) A scene of Arjuna and Krishna, two paccha (green, heroic) archetypes. This is from a performance on a proscenium stage for a Western audience, so the polished white floor, modern lighting and lack of an audience nearby are all highly untraditional. Nevertheless, there's good cinematography and some very helpful subtitles.



3) A scene of a demoness (black) archetype, grooming herself. This is a different interpretation of the character of Sidhika from The Killing of Kirmira, the text I gave you for Wednesday. Once again, this is a performance on a proscenium stage with modern lighting and good cinematography. The video we'll see in class is a worse video, but it is taken in a traditional context. Compare these performances to get a sense of what is actually codified in the form, and what the actor can improvise.



4) A clip from a 1960s documentary on India by Louis Malle with footage shot in Madras of bharatanatyam, a classical dance form also related to the Sanskrit aesthetics of rasa and bhava, and kathakali. The kathakali sequence, which is of students practicing in a course at a conservatory in Madras, begins at around 7:40. Here we see how kathakali has been taken into the national arts curriculum and incorporated into the broader performance culture of South India.

Behn's The Rover (1677)

Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

Aphra Behn is the first professional female playwright, as far as we know, in the world. She wrote 17 plays, of which The Rover is the most famous, now and in her own lifetime (it was so popular that she wrote a sequel), as well as poetry and novellas, the best known of which is Oroonoko, a sympathetic portrayal of an African slave in Surinam. She became quite favored in the court of Charles II, and participated in the most elite literary and societal circles until her death in 1689.

Behn specifically sets The Rovers in the Italian city of Naples at a time when it was controlled by Spain during the Puritan interregnum. The “Banished Cavaliers” or Rovers are specifically the English aristocracy who were banished from England at this time. Behn uses this context to denounce the Puritans, poke jabs at the Spanish, and extol an Italian carnival atmosphere that is analogous to Restoration London.

At the same time, she is aware of current political disputes brewing between the Whigs (mostly middle class and higher aristocracy who distrusted the King and advocated greater alliance with European Catholicism) and the Tories (mostly lesser aristocracy who allied themselves with the King and the Church of England.) In 1688, this dispute would erupt into the Glorious Revolution in which the Dutch monarch, William of Orange, took control of England and James II fled to France. In 1677, however, Behn sided firmly against the Whigs.


A note on acting in the Restoration

Despite the construction of increasingly lavish proscenium theatres like Dorset Garden, restoration comedy was still very much an actor’s theatre. The projection of the forestage into the auditorium allowed the actors a great deal of interaction with the audience, who they would often know personally. And the modern etiquette of everybody being quiet, still and attentive during a performance was not the norm (David Garrick actually enforced this kind of behavior for the first time in the mid-18th century) So actors had to not only compete with audience members for attention, but sometimes be ready to parry comments from them. For this reason, repartee (the ability to speak extemporaneously with grace and wit, particularly in exchanging insults and ridicule) was a primary skill for actors.


Fops and Rakes

These stock characters were part of the typical structure of Restoration comedy. They are versions of the typical protagonist and antagonist roles from Greek and Roman Comedy. The Fop is an Imposter character, a prating fool who doesn’t measure up to societal standards, and the Rake is the Ironist who calls his bluff. In The Rover, these characters are Blunt and Wilmore. However, one of the most striking questions for the play is just how much the female characters (particularly Florinda and Hellena) get the better of even the Rake.

This connects to another question: Does it make a noticeable difference that The Rover is the work of a female playwright? What kind of powers and constraints does Behn imagine for Florinda and Hellena? Is she critiquing the patriarchal society of the day, or does the play ultimately support the status quo?

Drury Lane & Dorset Garden

Wealthy patrons of the Dorset Garden theatre would arrive at the theatre along the Thames by boat


When King Charles II gave Davenant and Killigrew warrants to form their two companies of players in 1660, he likewise gave them leave 'to purchase, build and erect or hire at their charge... two houses or theatres'. After the Puritan interregnum, the options for venues were initially limited. Killigrew's King's Company occupied a converted tennis-court (following a common French practice) whereas Davenant's Duke's Company occupied an old playhouse at Salisbury Court. However, Davenant immediately began planning a playhouse that would enable him to make use of the Italian innovations in scenery already so popular in France. The converted tennis court theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which opened in 1661, was the first such attempt and marks the beginning of a distinctive Restoration style of playhouse. The stage was extremely deep to allow both mid-level scenic spectacle as well as more distant 'vistas'. A deep forestage under and beyond the proscenium arch was where most of the acting took place. Everything was lit by candles and chandeliers. With boxes up both sides of the stage, the actors and audience are fairly intimate. There is no gulf between actors and audience as in later proscenium theatres. This basic approach is also evident in the Drury Lane theatre, which Killigrew opened in 1663.



As was true throughout Europe at the time, lighting by candles combined with extensive scenery of fabric and wood contributed to frequent fires. Drury Lane burned down in 1672, and a second theatre was built there in 1674. This second theatre was demolished in 1791 by Sheridan so that he could build a grander one in 1794. This theatre burned down in 1809. The fourth Theatre Royal at Drury Lane, which is still a fixture of the London theatre scene, was erected in 1812.


A performance at the Covent Garden theatre in 1674.






Elevation of second Drury Lane by Thomas Leacroft and a scene of a 1674 performance

Davenant, however, like many a modern producer, had his sights set on making theatre ever more extravagant. He died in 1668, but the Duke's Company was carried on in the same style under the leadership of Betterton. With the opening of his new playhouse at Dorset Garden in 1671, he set a new standard for scenic spectacle. The theatre was demolished in 1709, but we get some sense of its cavernous depth and height from a few surviving engravings of scenes from Elkanah Settle's The Empress of Morocco (1673). It is designed for a level of spectacle that would surely overwhelm most drama, and makes Drury Lane look quite cozy in comparison. Nevertheless, many of the most famous plays of the era, including Aphra Behn's The Rover, premiered there. We can only guess at what the production must have looked like!





Engravings of The Empress of Morocco (1673) at Dorset Garden

John Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)

Portrait of John Dryden (1631-1700). Despite the prominence the painter gives a volume of Shakespeare, Dryden himself did not praise the Bard as unreservedly as many later critics would.

Here are a few highlight's from Kristy's presentation on Dryden's Essay:

The first significant part of the essay comes in the form of the definition of a play: “A just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, to the delight and instruction of mankind.” By using the term “image of human nature,” it appears that Dryden is using the word “image” to highlight the fact that the focus of theater is becoming more visually and spectacle based. Also, Dryden refers to “human nature” throughout this essay and it can be said that he is using it as a way to make the experience of theater more universal for all types of audiences.

The third argument centers on the concept of nationalism: Which country’s drama is superior – France or England’s? Lisideius defends the French and Neander defends the superiority of the English stage.

Lisideius’s arguments for the French include: Strict regard for the unities; refusal to mix comic and serious elements; economic plotting; expert narration that permits the avoidance of duels and battles on stage; well-motivated characters and skill in verse.

Neander’s arguments for the English include: that the French follow not nature, but artistic rules and achieve only an artificial beauty; that French plots are bare, passions cold, variety stifled by the strict separation of genres and believability sacrificed to a rigid adherence to the unities. Neander also defends the use of action on the English stage: “If we are to be blam’d for showing too much of the action, the French are as faulty for discovering too little of it.”

That said, Dryden struggled with the argument between classic principles and traditional English practice. He wavered between a traditional Aristotelian understanding of tragedy and a recognition that successful English works by Shakespeare and others involve subplots and some kind of mixture of comedy and tragedy that cannot be reconciled with neoclassicism. For example, in 1681 he admits to mixing serious and comic elements for “the pleasure of variety” since audiences “are grown weary of continu’d melancholy scenes.” He even argues that tragicomedy should be respected as a distinct form, as difficult to create as tragedy, “for ‘tis more difficult to save than ‘tis to kill.”

Dryden seems to be arguing for a movement towards more naturalistic dialogue. However, he stops short of advocating for truly realistic dialogue (prose) on the stage. Keep paying attention to this as we read plays that are closer and closer to our own time. It is very seductive to take the "presentist" perspective that all past practices are steps in a progression culminating in our own culture, which is the best. Obviously, we don't really believe that or we wouldn't keep performing plays written hundreds of years ago. So how do plays like Tartuffe and The Rover work even though they are not yet "realistic" in our modern sense?

The English Restoration between Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Hobbes (1588-1679) & Locke (1632-1704)

Two major philosophical works can be seen to frame the socio-political context of English Restoration theatre: Hobbes' Leviathan (1651) and Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690).

Hobbes, writing in the midst of the Puritan interregnum, argues that a just society is produced by a benevolent absolute monarch, who uses rational principles to defend the natural rights of the people. Locke, writing in the immediate aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, argues that the natural rights of humanity are best protected by representative constitutional government. Over the course of the 40 years that historians typically identify as the period of English Restoration theatre (1660-1700), England begins to undergo a fundamental shift from absolutist monarchy to a bourgeois capitalist society under parliamentary rule. This will have major and subtle effects on the plays written during this time and the theatrical institutions in which they are performed.

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A few key dates:

By 1600 Indoor playhouses were being built. Burbage’s Blackfriar’s theatre, where Shakespeare’s troupe performed in the Winter.

1603 James I empowered the master of revels to license play publication, making dramatic literature a state-regulated business too.

1625 James I dies. Charles I assumes the throne. He is a great patron of court masques, which are written by Ben Jonson and many of the leading playwrights. Making use of Inigo Jones’ designs based on perspective scenery and Italian design.

1632 William Prynne’s Histriomastix, a polemic against the stage and the wiles of women. He is sent to the Tower, becomes a martyr to the Puritan cause.

1642 Civil War breaks out between the Monarchy and the Puritans. The public theatres close.

1649 Puritans prevail under Oliver Cromwell. Charles I executed on the steps of Parliament, after being taken through his court theatre where masques had been staged. The English aristocracy flees to France, where they learn a bit about French neoclassical theatre.

1660 Chalres II returns to London and puts the Puritan regicides to death. Theatres re-opened. Actresses appear on the English stage for the first time. Charles gives grants to Thomas Killigrew to establish the King’s Company and to William Davenant to establish the Duke’s Company.

1665 The Great Plague

1666 The Great Fire of London

1685 Charles II dies. He converts from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicisim on his death-bed. King James II ascends the throne, openly practicing Roman Catholicism and promoting religious toleration. Opponents see this as the first step towards abolishing the Anglican Church and turning England Catholic, like Mary Queen of Scots had intended.

1686-7 James II starts appointing only Catholics to military, academic and government jobs.

1688 Glorious revolution. English nobles secretly invite William of Orange (Dutch leader) and Mary to take the throne. He is a militant protestant. James II flees England.

1690 James II is defeated in battle by William in the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. James dies in exile in France. Democratic reforms advanced giving increased power to Parliament. Increasing democratization of professional theatre, which becomes increasingly commercial and subject to market forces. Absolutist monopolies over theatre decline, clearing the way for the rise of bourgeois theatre.

1694 Bank of England established. Capitalism begins to replace aristocratic patronage.

1700 Congreve’s The Way of the World, usually cited as the end of the Restoration period theatre.

Moliere's Tartuffe (1669)

Moliere's career reached its peak a generation after the Le Cid controversy, and he was a little less restrained as a writer of comedy. Nevertheless, think about the context of the Academy, neoclassicism and the rise of the absolutist monarchy as you read Tartuffe. What kind of theatrical and dramatic conventions is Moliere playing with here? Is the play in all respects a typical comedy on classical models? How exactly does he manage the risky portrayal of a hypocritical man of God? We usually think of comedy as having "trivial" stakes. Is that true for this one?

French Renaissance Theatre

A Timeline:

1402 Confrerie de la Passion formed to produce liturgical dramas in Paris. They gain a monopoly on this. Meanwhile the theatres of the foire (fairground) are continuing under ever-shifting regulation.

1548 The confrerie builds the Hotel de Burgogne (a converted townhouse), the first permanent theatre building in Europe since ancient Rome. However, before they can start using it, the government bans religious plays. Nevertheless, the confrerie retains their monopoly and become producers for a new secular drama produced at the Hotel.
1547-89. Catherine de Medici reigns as Queen of Henri II. Exerts substantial influence in bringing Italian culture into French society, promoting theatricals, pageants and other arts of an Italian nature.
Mid-1500s. The Pleiade forms, an artistic society devoted to the promotion of secular humanist arts in Paris and France. They promote the writing of plays based on classical models. However, at this point there is still active debate over what the lessons of the ancients really are, and how they should be followed.
1572-1632. Alexandre Hardy, the first truly professional French playwright. He didn’t adhere to neoclassical unities, had supernatural characters, and generally appealed to public taste. Most of his plays were performed at the Hotel de Burgogne.
1577 First professional actors at the Hotel de Burgogne

1625 Cardinal Richelieu comes to power, effectively running the government of Louis XIII. There had been a great deal of upheval in the French state—intrigues between aristocrats, assassinations of kings and nobles, religious war between Catholics and Protestants. Richelieu took strong action to centralize power in the monarchy. He took a similar attitude towards centralizing French arts and culture, which he based on the strongest available model—the Italians.
1634 The Theatre du Marais is constructed from a converted tennis court, the first professional competition for Burgogne.
1635 The Academie Francaise is formed out of 40 writers and intellectuals given the authority to make decisions on issues of national arts policy. Based on the model of Italian academies.
1636/7 Corneille’s Le Cid produced in Paris.
1641 Richelieu constructs the Palais Cardinal (renamed Royal after his death), the first theatre in France with a proscenium arch and a stage using flat wings.
1640s Giacomo Torelli comes to Paris overseeing the development of Italian scenic technology there. He introduces his machinery to the Palais Cardinal, and oversees the conversion of a palace into the Petit Bourbon, a massive state-of-the-art proscenium theatre. Tiberio Fiorillo’s commedia company arrives in Paris at the same time. Competes with French troupes.
1658 Moliere’s troupe returns to Paris after “exile” in the provinces.
1660s The Salles de Machines is completed. It is the largest theatre in Europe, constructed precisely to have much room for scenic machinery.
1669 Final version of Moliere’s Tartuffe
1680 Comedie Francaise established, the first national theatre in Europe.

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The Le Cid controversy plays out in the mid-1630s, establishing the authority of the Academie Francaise over standards for French drama. As Ellen discussed, these standards included enforcement of the "three unities" of time, place and action; vraisemblance (verisimilitude) and bienseance (decorum), as well as some tricky negotiations over the representation of "truth" onstage. "Not all truths are good for the theatre," as Chapelain put it. As Ellen noted, the Academy's view was essentially utilitarian, viewing art as serving a function in relation to public morality and the development of a French national identity.