Retelling King Lear’s tale the Kathakali way

As she runs to the backstage at Bharat Bhavan, Annette Leday leaves us on a high note.
Retelling King Lear’s tale the Kathakali way

As she runs to the backstage at Bharat Bhavan, Annette Leday leaves us on a high note. The way she has stitched strands of two distinctive cultures into one seamless web of stagecraft, you get a glimpse of what an intermingling of diversity can achieve if allowed the free space to prosper. This has happened with Kathakali-King Lear, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear into Kathakali that she has directed. All set for its Delhi showcase on December 6, as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival, it reiterates the need for intercultural discourse through movement art.

This is one of the many adaptations King Lear has seen, proving how stories resonate across diaspora. This time it has crossed over from a play to dance. The protagonist is Peessapilli Rajeev, who has been performing for 40 years. He learnt Kathakali under Cheruvalli Raman Namboodiri in gurukula sampradaayam (tradition).

A certain amount of humility comes across when she speaks to us about her contribution to this production. She believes, Kathakali is in the hands of its artists and institutions. “I am only a visitor. I don’t believe a woman, and a foreigner at that, could in anyway enhance the form whatsoever. When I direct Kathakali artists in my productions, I am extremely exacting in terms of precision and quality of the technique and the use of space to enhance the emotions and the meaning I wish to convey,” says Leday.   


She herself studied Kathakali dance theatre in 1978 at the Sadanam and Kalamandalam institutions. Since 1989, she has directed and choreographed several performances, but King Lear remains her biggest pride. It is also her greatest challenge. “It was imperative to find a theatrical expression for the larger-than-life dimension and explosive power of the play. Kathakali’s rich means of expression and its intensity create precisely the dimension and power that King Learrequires,” she says.

Adapting a Shakespeare play for Kathakali has similar problems and opportunities as adapting a play for ballet or for opera, she tells us. And she is aware of the loss and gain. But the key is to choose the right play and she did that with this one. “King Lear is very suited to Kathakali as they share common themes such as kingship, dowry, and renunciation of the world,” says the director.

The production has travelled the world, including at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London in 1999. It was, however, created in 1988 and 1989 in northern Kerala. “Thirty years later, we revisit Kathakali-King Lear with a new approach and a new team which includes a core of artists who participated in the first production in their youth and have now reached the full maturity of their art,” she says.

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