Snow White, or 'Hima Sundari'? Kala Chethena Kathakali's Delightful Cultural Bridge

Image: Kala Chethena Kathakali's Hima Sundari, with Kalanilayam Balakrishnan as The Prince & Kalamandalam Vijayakumar as The Princess.

Kathakali, a theatre dance form from Kerala, India, is rarely found outside its home country. It’s not hard to imagine the surprise anyone might experience when they stumble across it pleasantly nestled in Southampton since 1987. Founded by husband and wife duo Kalamandalam Vijayakumar and Kalamandalam Barbara Vijayakumar, the Kala Chethena Kathakali boasts a place as the main Kathakali company external to India. The company’s Indo-British identity gleams through its pride in traditional style performance combined with a story familiar to a UK audience: Snow White, or Hima Sundari. The story choice may seem odd at first, but plays off well with a largely Western audience and showcases the versatility of Kathakali’s narrative style. Originally performed in temples, traditional stories tell of Hindu divinities most British audiences may only know by name at best. Traditional methods are preserved whilst educating, entertaining and retaining relevance for an audience – a challenging but worthy achievement.

The evening starts with a demonstration of various moods and expressions enacted by Kalamandalam Vijayakumar and explained by B. Vijayakumar. As a male character, Kalamandalam Vijayakumar takes wide, confident strides, hand gestures asserting his presence and mood with stubborn cool. Adopting a female persona (all Kathakali performers are men), he assumes a slight coyness. Demonstrating flirtation, he flutters his eyelashes, flashing his irises at the audience as his heavily painted eyebrows raise in a knowing tease. With characters well-defined within roles of antagonist and protagonist, the result is boisterous and entertaining - not too distant from a Western pantomime but without the corny jokes. The evil queen, clad in black with painted scarlet triangles emboldening her cheeks, white lines popping the impression of the face against its jet-black make-up, alternates between sinister and comedic. Played by Kalamandalam Kutty Krishnan, the actor shrieks and giggles erratically, one moment horrified that the princess should be more beautiful than her, then endlessly smug at her own genius in destroying her rival. Sudden shrieks disrupting the music are jarring at first but proves to be both fun and hair-raising as the play continues. 

Image: Kalamandalam Barbara Vijayakumar applying chutti (make-up)

As standard for Kathakali, a torch lit by tiny flames crowning the forefront of the stage acts as a symbol of divine presence and the thought of migrating gods is brought to mind. Dance crossing continents and man-constructed boundaries are accompanied by beliefs, histories, demons and deities. Human stories collide into narratives shaped by other lands rebirthing old stories into unexpected forms. It was surprising to see Snow White retold as a Kathakali play, and whilst a pairing of Germanic fairy tale and Indian temple art sounds unlikely, the company grasps the narrative in full colour and song. The makeup, consisting of vivid block colours of red, black, green and white depending on the character, is meticulously done by B. Vijayakumar, notably the first female Kathakali makeup artist since the form is male dominated. Kala Chethena’s boldness in making Kathakali accessible to British audiences without sacrificing typical practice makes for a pleasurable and thrilling experience, particularly given the rarity of Kathakali in the UK. Moreover, Hima Sundari is a fine bridging of two cultures not just co-existing but thriving in their support of one another.

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This review was written on the 4th November 2024.