Thesis and Books by Virginie Johan
Ph.D. Thesis (in French), Université Paris-III Sorbonne Nouvelle, Arts & Medias (theatre studies)... more Ph.D. Thesis (in French), Université Paris-III Sorbonne Nouvelle, Arts & Medias (theatre studies), 3 vol. (546, 490 et 450 p.) & 3 DVD-DL with booklets.
***Mention très honorable avec les félicitations.
*** French short abstract (to downlowd) published in Cahiers d'Ethnomusicologie 27, 2014 (see abstracts)
**** English abstract : From the person to the persona: an ethnoscenological approach to Kutiyattam as epic theatre of India. Kutiyattam of Kerala is an epic theatre that interweaves drama and narrative, characterized by an acting technique wherein the performance of the central actor makes constant recourse to a distancing effect. This hypothesis – esthetic in nature while "epic" refers to Brecht – is demonstrated through a multidisciplinary, ethnoscenogical approach. Everything begins with a so-called "first performance" in which a child plays at being an Actor-character, and then becomes a storyteller. This ceremonial, which serves as a common thread throughout our study, contains "everything", i.e. all of the foundations and ingredients of the epic esthetic, which we go on to explain using the example of the Ramayana – one of the numerous ancient Sanskrit texts that Kutiyattam brings to the stage. Book I first proposes an ethnography of the Chakyar-masters of Kutiyattam (first part), emphasizing their unique skills. It then analyses the training that underpin the codification of the actor’s body, demonstrating the challenge of being an actor in itself, before even assuming a character/persona (second part). Book II is dedicated to the performances. It begins by examining the texts (third part) of the five Ramayana cycles that are performed in the temples: five acts in Sanskrit into which are interwoven narratives in Malayalam, written in performers’ acting manuals. Taken together, these texts form a unified repertoire characterised by iterative embedded structures that interlock the principles of stop-in-time, change in point of view and flash-back. The acting (fourth part) enhances this dramaturgy. The performer who has multiple functions – character, storyteller, dancer, and director – juggles these principles, especially when he enters into the "substitution" process, a role-play that engenders striking effects of simultaneity. The annexes (Book III) contain the additional analyses (annex I) and the texts (annex II) and audiovisual materials (3 DVD-DLs with booklets) related to the performances. The thesis itself, including the montage of the films, is structured in such a way that it reflects the dramaturgy of Kutiyattam, and notably its use of stop-in-time.
***********
Librairies :
BnF (site Opéra national de Paris, Garnier),
Musée du quai Branly,
Bibliothèque du CEIAS (Maison de l'Asie, Paris),
Théâtrothèque Gaston Baty (Paris 3),
Bibliothèque universitaire Paris-8.
In Kerala : L.S. Rajagopalan foundation + Rama Chakyar home.
Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre sanskrit et le théâtre gréco-romain, Toulouse-Le-Mirail, Les Travaux du CRATA., 2004
2004. avec M.–H. Garelli, Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre sanskrit et le théâtre gréco... more 2004. avec M.–H. Garelli, Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre sanskrit et le théâtre gréco-romain, Toulouse-Le-Mirail, Les Travaux du CRATA.
Ouvrage collectif
Sommaire
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
Préface.
Lyne BANSAT-BOUDON
« Cherchez où c’est quelque chose de pareil »
De quelques principes du théâtre indien.
Marie-Claude PORCHER
Les strophes et le déroulement de l’intrigue dans
le théâtre sanskrit.
Virginie JOHAN
Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre Kūṭiyāṭṭam :
l’exemple du «Toraṇayuddham ».
Christine MAUDUIT
Intrigue et représentation dans le Philoctète de Sophocle.
Christophe CUSSET
La mise en place de l’intrigue dans le Bouclier de Ménandre.
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
L’intrigue dans l’Andrienne de Térence.
Jean-Pierre AYGON
L’intrigue dans les tragédies de Sénèque.
Multimedia by Virginie Johan
Théâtre du Soleil (Site Web), 2016
Kutiyattam "Full NIght", Pictures, Théâtre du Soleil, Paris, 2016
H. Moser & D. D. Shulman Dir.
Pictures published in a paper dealing with the Project
The Hebrew university Kutiyattam Project (Web site : http://kudiyattam.huji.ac.il/innerpage.php?p=14), 2011
Internet link : http://kudiyattam.huji.ac.il/innerpage.php?p=14.
Kudiyattam: A Multi-Disciplina... more Internet link : http://kudiyattam.huji.ac.il/innerpage.php?p=14.
Kudiyattam: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to the Living Sanskrit Theater of Kerala
Our aim is, first, to observe and experience and then to document and interpret,
in an analytical and interdisciplinary mode, the last surviving tradition of Sanskrit drama in performance in India - the Sanskrit theater of Kerala known as Kūḍiyāṭṭam
and its allied performative genres in this region, on the south-west coast of India....
Website manager:
[email protected]
Last Update: June 23, 2012
Gallery » Kudiyattam photos 2011
photos in courtesy of Virginie Johan
réalisation: J. Queyrat, ZED-Production (Patrimoine immatériel)
Auteur et conseiller scientifiqu... more réalisation: J. Queyrat, ZED-Production (Patrimoine immatériel)
Auteur et conseiller scientifique : V. Johan
Documentaire grand public, diffusion TV et cinéma.
PRODUCTION: ZED avec la participation de TF1 / Ushuaia TV / TV5 Monde / RTBF / Equator HD Canada / YLE / TV3 / Canal Futura
Réalisateur: Jean QUEYRAT
Co-auteur et conseiller scientifique : Virginie JOHAN
Avec Rama CHAKYAR
Images: Jean QUEYRAT
Opérateur Prise de Son: Philippe POTHON
Montage: Bertrand COLLARD
Genre : Peuple & Ethnologie
Versions disponibles : Français, Espagnol, Anglais
Book chapters by Virginie Johan
in A. Castaing, I. Le Gargasson, Performance et littérature en Asie du Sud : Réciter, interpréter, jouer, Presses universitaires de Provence (« Textuelles »), 2022
2022. « Un exemple de littérature performative kéralaise : les manuels scéniques du Kūṭiyāṭṭam »,... more 2022. « Un exemple de littérature performative kéralaise : les manuels scéniques du Kūṭiyāṭṭam », in A. Castaing, I. Le Gargasson, Performance et littérature en Asie du Sud : Réciter, interpréter, jouer, Presses universitaires de Provence (« Textuelles ») : 131-148.
https://presses-universitaires.univ-amu.fr/performance-litterature-asie-du-sud
Oxford University Press, 2019
In H. Oberlin (Moser), D. D. Shulman, Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam, Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam... more In H. Oberlin (Moser), D. D. Shulman, Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam, Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam : New Delhi, Oxford University Press., 2019
2019. « Aṅgulīyāṅkam, Rāmāyaṇa-Veda of the Cākyārs », in H. Oberlin (Moser), D. D. Shulman, Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam, Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam : New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 80 000 signes. *** Abstract *** Aṅgulīyāṅkam, the Act of the Ring, corresponds to the performance of the sixth act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, according to the Kūṭiyāṭṭam tradition of Kerala. The Cākyārs perform it as a kūttu, mono-action, for 12 days in seven Kerala temples (in 2016). On the basis of the Cākyārs’acting manual (āṭṭaprakāram), in Malayalam, and its performance, this paper demonstrates how the Kūttu condenses almost the entire Rāmāyaṇa repertoire of Kūṭiyāṭṭam into a complex, unique and unifying structure, and analyses its Epic dramaturgy.
Dictionnaire encyclopédique des littératures de l’Inde (DELI), A. Castaing, N. Dejenne, C. Leblanc Dir., 2017
2015. "Théâtres du Kerala", in A. Samuel dir., Du Nô à Mata Hari, 2 000 ans de théâtre en Asie, P... more 2015. "Théâtres du Kerala", in A. Samuel dir., Du Nô à Mata Hari, 2 000 ans de théâtre en Asie, Paris, Musée national des arts asiatiques Guimet/Arthys : 68-73.
2014. « Quand les pièces-clés du costume font signe : le jeu de l’écharpe et de la jupe dans le t... more 2014. « Quand les pièces-clés du costume font signe : le jeu de l’écharpe et de la jupe dans le théâtre Kutiyattam (Inde) », in A. Verdier, D. Doumergue, Le Costume de scène, objet de recherche, Beaulieu, Lampsaque (Studiolo essais) : 65-74.
2011. « "Même l’écureuil fait ce qu’il peut". Transmettre le savoir dans le Kūṭiyāṭṭam », in M.-C... more 2011. « "Même l’écureuil fait ce qu’il peut". Transmettre le savoir dans le Kūṭiyāṭṭam », in M.-C. Mahias, Construire les savoirs dans l’action. Apprentissages et enjeux sociaux en Asie du Sud, Paris, EHESS (Purushartha 29) : 39-78.
English abstract :
"Even the squarrels do what they can : knowleddge-transmission as enacted in Kūṭiyāṭṭam".
Squirrels are watching a rehearsal between the Kūṭiyāṭṭam actor-master Rāma Cākyār and his disciple Saṅgīt Cākyār. The student is performing the beginning of what is known as « Śrī Rāma’s retrospection », a long narrative flash-back that is inserted into the second act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, a Rāmāyaṇa Sanskrit play. The session lasts two hours, working up to a climax known as an « extension », a sequence of pure mime during which Lakṣmaṇa builds a forest-hut for his brother Rāma. Armed with the acting manual (the sub-text of the scene, written in Malayalam), a pen, a camera and a tape-recorder, I record and describe the work. This article provides an opportunity to discover the specific narrative dramaturgy, the actor-storyteller’s role as well as the acting conventions of Kūṭiyāṭṭam. Moreover it outlines how in the transmission process direct instructions enrich the formula given in practitioner’s acting manuals. As squirrels help Rāma to build the bridge to Laṅkā, the master and disciple « do what they can » – as the Malayali proverb goes – to carry on the long and fragile chain of their art. How? The answer to this question – which is also a key-word of the Kūṭiyāṭṭam dramaturgy – requires analysing the orders, advice, words, acts, gestures, blackouts, actions, moods, etc., that constitute the knowledge involved.
2011. « Actresses on the Temple Stages? The Epic Conception and Performance of Women’s Roles in K... more 2011. « Actresses on the Temple Stages? The Epic Conception and Performance of Women’s Roles in Kūṭiyāṭṭam Rāmāyaṇa Plays », in H. Brückner, A. de Bruin, H. Moser, Between Fame and Shame: Performing Women – Women Performers in India, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz : 245-274.
With films : http://www.indologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/women_performers/contributors/johan/
2010. « L’Acteur indien : du corps enjeu au corps en jeu. Première scène, formation et omniprésen... more 2010. « L’Acteur indien : du corps enjeu au corps en jeu. Première scène, formation et omniprésence du corps-acteur dans le Kūṭiyāṭṭam du Kerala », in M.-H. Garelli, V. Visa-Ondarçuhu, Corps en jeu de l’Antiquité à nos jours, Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes (Histoire) : 271-285.
2008. « Préludes à une ethnoscénographie filmée de performances d’acteurs », in G. Declercq, J. d... more 2008. « Préludes à une ethnoscénographie filmée de performances d’acteurs », in G. Declercq, J. de Guardia, Iconographie théâtrale et genres dramatiques, Mélanges offerts à Martine de Rougemont, Paris, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle : 121-136.
Papers in Peer reviewed Journals by Virginie Johan
Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia, Cracow Indological Studies, 2017
SUMMARY: Until the 1960s, Kūṭiyāṭṭam ** —India's Sanskrit theatre—was exclusively performed in Hi... more SUMMARY: Until the 1960s, Kūṭiyāṭṭam ** —India's Sanskrit theatre—was exclusively performed in Hindu temples of Kerala by an ensemble of three ritual performers of high status: the Cākyār actor-master, the Nampyār percussionist, and the Naṅṅyār reciter, cymbalist and actress. Within this devotional context, Kūṭiyāṭṭam, whose essence is theatre (nāṭya), is considered an offering of 'dance' (nṛtta) to the main divinity. Furthermore, the performative cycles, lasting from three to forty-one days, incorporate dances known as 'kriya', literally 'what has to be done' or 'action', designating the ritual action here. This paper attempts to complement previous studies based on the Indian theory of theatre, by questioning the uses and roles of dance in the Kūṭiyāṭṭam theatrical sphere and tackling the issue of boundaries between dance and dramatic action. The study draws on long-range anthropological research as well as on the Kūṭiyāṭṭam literature, especially the Cākyar's acting and production manuals (āṭṭaprakāram and kramadīpikā) written in Malayalam, three of which are composed *
Horizon-Théâtre 8-9 (Théâtres du geste, du jeu et de la voix, P. Katuzewski, M. Manca dir.) : 128-145., 2017
2017. « L’Entrée en scène d’un premier rôle d’acteur indien : ses apports pour l’analyse anthropo... more 2017. « L’Entrée en scène d’un premier rôle d’acteur indien : ses apports pour l’analyse anthropologique et esthétique du jeu », Horizon-Théâtre 8-9 (Théâtre de la voix, du geste et du jeu, P. Katuzewski, M. Manca dir.) : 128-145.
Résumé
Enfant, tout Cākyār – nom de la caste des maîtres-acteurs de Kūṭiyāṭṭam – doit monter sur la scène de l’un des « temples du jeu » (kūttampalaṃ) des temples hindous du Kerala. Il y joue un premier rôle d’Acteur. Ce rite d’institution ancien met en abyme la société et l’art des Cākyār. Il nous fait réfléchir sur les relations entre théâtre et société et sur la nature du « jeu ».
Abstract
During childhood, each Cākyār – or member of the caste of actors that perform the ancestral Indian theatre of Kerala, Kūṭiyāṭṭam – has to play a first role of Actor on the stage of a temple-theatre, in a Hindu temple. This constitutes not only a fascinatingly unique rite of passage, but also represents a deep mise en abyme of the Cākyār’s society and theatre. It makes us reflect on the relations between theatre and society and on the "actor’s act".
Mots-clés
Acteur, jeu, société, mise en abyme, distanciation, codification, anthropologie, esthétique, Inde
2017a. « The Flower needs its roots to continue to grow », Nartanam. A quarterly Journal of Indi... more 2017a. « The Flower needs its roots to continue to grow », Nartanam. A quarterly Journal of Indian Dance XVII-1 (Jan-March): 35-44 [revised edition of Johan 2011cd : Kutiyattam, 10 years after the UNESCO Declaration].
2011. « The Flower needs its roots to continue to grow », « Temple Performance Calendar », Indian... more 2011. « The Flower needs its roots to continue to grow », « Temple Performance Calendar », Indian Folklife 38 (Kutiyattam, 10 Years After The UNESCO Declaration) : 20-24, 25-26. Second publication: 2017, Nartanam, XVII-1 (jan-march), p. 35-39.
Second edition : 2017 : https://nartanam.in/product/2017-volume-one/
Uploads
Thesis and Books by Virginie Johan
***Mention très honorable avec les félicitations.
*** French short abstract (to downlowd) published in Cahiers d'Ethnomusicologie 27, 2014 (see abstracts)
**** English abstract : From the person to the persona: an ethnoscenological approach to Kutiyattam as epic theatre of India. Kutiyattam of Kerala is an epic theatre that interweaves drama and narrative, characterized by an acting technique wherein the performance of the central actor makes constant recourse to a distancing effect. This hypothesis – esthetic in nature while "epic" refers to Brecht – is demonstrated through a multidisciplinary, ethnoscenogical approach. Everything begins with a so-called "first performance" in which a child plays at being an Actor-character, and then becomes a storyteller. This ceremonial, which serves as a common thread throughout our study, contains "everything", i.e. all of the foundations and ingredients of the epic esthetic, which we go on to explain using the example of the Ramayana – one of the numerous ancient Sanskrit texts that Kutiyattam brings to the stage. Book I first proposes an ethnography of the Chakyar-masters of Kutiyattam (first part), emphasizing their unique skills. It then analyses the training that underpin the codification of the actor’s body, demonstrating the challenge of being an actor in itself, before even assuming a character/persona (second part). Book II is dedicated to the performances. It begins by examining the texts (third part) of the five Ramayana cycles that are performed in the temples: five acts in Sanskrit into which are interwoven narratives in Malayalam, written in performers’ acting manuals. Taken together, these texts form a unified repertoire characterised by iterative embedded structures that interlock the principles of stop-in-time, change in point of view and flash-back. The acting (fourth part) enhances this dramaturgy. The performer who has multiple functions – character, storyteller, dancer, and director – juggles these principles, especially when he enters into the "substitution" process, a role-play that engenders striking effects of simultaneity. The annexes (Book III) contain the additional analyses (annex I) and the texts (annex II) and audiovisual materials (3 DVD-DLs with booklets) related to the performances. The thesis itself, including the montage of the films, is structured in such a way that it reflects the dramaturgy of Kutiyattam, and notably its use of stop-in-time.
***********
Librairies :
BnF (site Opéra national de Paris, Garnier),
Musée du quai Branly,
Bibliothèque du CEIAS (Maison de l'Asie, Paris),
Théâtrothèque Gaston Baty (Paris 3),
Bibliothèque universitaire Paris-8.
In Kerala : L.S. Rajagopalan foundation + Rama Chakyar home.
Ouvrage collectif
Sommaire
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
Préface.
Lyne BANSAT-BOUDON
« Cherchez où c’est quelque chose de pareil »
De quelques principes du théâtre indien.
Marie-Claude PORCHER
Les strophes et le déroulement de l’intrigue dans
le théâtre sanskrit.
Virginie JOHAN
Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre Kūṭiyāṭṭam :
l’exemple du «Toraṇayuddham ».
Christine MAUDUIT
Intrigue et représentation dans le Philoctète de Sophocle.
Christophe CUSSET
La mise en place de l’intrigue dans le Bouclier de Ménandre.
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
L’intrigue dans l’Andrienne de Térence.
Jean-Pierre AYGON
L’intrigue dans les tragédies de Sénèque.
Multimedia by Virginie Johan
Contents of the 3 DVD-DL (in Ph.D.) : description of the 69 clips/films edited and subtitled in French
Few film clips are published here, with papers :
-- http://www.indologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/women_performers/contributors/johan/
-- https://vimeo.com/29031440
-- https://vimeo.com/29030558
Kudiyattam: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to the Living Sanskrit Theater of Kerala
Our aim is, first, to observe and experience and then to document and interpret,
in an analytical and interdisciplinary mode, the last surviving tradition of Sanskrit drama in performance in India - the Sanskrit theater of Kerala known as Kūḍiyāṭṭam
and its allied performative genres in this region, on the south-west coast of India....
Website manager:
[email protected]
Last Update: June 23, 2012
Gallery » Kudiyattam photos 2011
photos in courtesy of Virginie Johan
Auteur et conseiller scientifique : V. Johan
Documentaire grand public, diffusion TV et cinéma.
PRODUCTION: ZED avec la participation de TF1 / Ushuaia TV / TV5 Monde / RTBF / Equator HD Canada / YLE / TV3 / Canal Futura
Réalisateur: Jean QUEYRAT
Co-auteur et conseiller scientifique : Virginie JOHAN
Avec Rama CHAKYAR
Images: Jean QUEYRAT
Opérateur Prise de Son: Philippe POTHON
Montage: Bertrand COLLARD
Genre : Peuple & Ethnologie
Versions disponibles : Français, Espagnol, Anglais
Book chapters by Virginie Johan
https://presses-universitaires.univ-amu.fr/performance-litterature-asie-du-sud
2019. « Aṅgulīyāṅkam, Rāmāyaṇa-Veda of the Cākyārs », in H. Oberlin (Moser), D. D. Shulman, Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam, Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam : New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 80 000 signes. *** Abstract *** Aṅgulīyāṅkam, the Act of the Ring, corresponds to the performance of the sixth act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, according to the Kūṭiyāṭṭam tradition of Kerala. The Cākyārs perform it as a kūttu, mono-action, for 12 days in seven Kerala temples (in 2016). On the basis of the Cākyārs’acting manual (āṭṭaprakāram), in Malayalam, and its performance, this paper demonstrates how the Kūttu condenses almost the entire Rāmāyaṇa repertoire of Kūṭiyāṭṭam into a complex, unique and unifying structure, and analyses its Epic dramaturgy.
English abstract :
"Even the squarrels do what they can : knowleddge-transmission as enacted in Kūṭiyāṭṭam".
Squirrels are watching a rehearsal between the Kūṭiyāṭṭam actor-master Rāma Cākyār and his disciple Saṅgīt Cākyār. The student is performing the beginning of what is known as « Śrī Rāma’s retrospection », a long narrative flash-back that is inserted into the second act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, a Rāmāyaṇa Sanskrit play. The session lasts two hours, working up to a climax known as an « extension », a sequence of pure mime during which Lakṣmaṇa builds a forest-hut for his brother Rāma. Armed with the acting manual (the sub-text of the scene, written in Malayalam), a pen, a camera and a tape-recorder, I record and describe the work. This article provides an opportunity to discover the specific narrative dramaturgy, the actor-storyteller’s role as well as the acting conventions of Kūṭiyāṭṭam. Moreover it outlines how in the transmission process direct instructions enrich the formula given in practitioner’s acting manuals. As squirrels help Rāma to build the bridge to Laṅkā, the master and disciple « do what they can » – as the Malayali proverb goes – to carry on the long and fragile chain of their art. How? The answer to this question – which is also a key-word of the Kūṭiyāṭṭam dramaturgy – requires analysing the orders, advice, words, acts, gestures, blackouts, actions, moods, etc., that constitute the knowledge involved.
With films : http://www.indologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/women_performers/contributors/johan/
Papers in Peer reviewed Journals by Virginie Johan
Résumé
Enfant, tout Cākyār – nom de la caste des maîtres-acteurs de Kūṭiyāṭṭam – doit monter sur la scène de l’un des « temples du jeu » (kūttampalaṃ) des temples hindous du Kerala. Il y joue un premier rôle d’Acteur. Ce rite d’institution ancien met en abyme la société et l’art des Cākyār. Il nous fait réfléchir sur les relations entre théâtre et société et sur la nature du « jeu ».
Abstract
During childhood, each Cākyār – or member of the caste of actors that perform the ancestral Indian theatre of Kerala, Kūṭiyāṭṭam – has to play a first role of Actor on the stage of a temple-theatre, in a Hindu temple. This constitutes not only a fascinatingly unique rite of passage, but also represents a deep mise en abyme of the Cākyār’s society and theatre. It makes us reflect on the relations between theatre and society and on the "actor’s act".
Mots-clés
Acteur, jeu, société, mise en abyme, distanciation, codification, anthropologie, esthétique, Inde
Second edition : 2017 : https://nartanam.in/product/2017-volume-one/
***Mention très honorable avec les félicitations.
*** French short abstract (to downlowd) published in Cahiers d'Ethnomusicologie 27, 2014 (see abstracts)
**** English abstract : From the person to the persona: an ethnoscenological approach to Kutiyattam as epic theatre of India. Kutiyattam of Kerala is an epic theatre that interweaves drama and narrative, characterized by an acting technique wherein the performance of the central actor makes constant recourse to a distancing effect. This hypothesis – esthetic in nature while "epic" refers to Brecht – is demonstrated through a multidisciplinary, ethnoscenogical approach. Everything begins with a so-called "first performance" in which a child plays at being an Actor-character, and then becomes a storyteller. This ceremonial, which serves as a common thread throughout our study, contains "everything", i.e. all of the foundations and ingredients of the epic esthetic, which we go on to explain using the example of the Ramayana – one of the numerous ancient Sanskrit texts that Kutiyattam brings to the stage. Book I first proposes an ethnography of the Chakyar-masters of Kutiyattam (first part), emphasizing their unique skills. It then analyses the training that underpin the codification of the actor’s body, demonstrating the challenge of being an actor in itself, before even assuming a character/persona (second part). Book II is dedicated to the performances. It begins by examining the texts (third part) of the five Ramayana cycles that are performed in the temples: five acts in Sanskrit into which are interwoven narratives in Malayalam, written in performers’ acting manuals. Taken together, these texts form a unified repertoire characterised by iterative embedded structures that interlock the principles of stop-in-time, change in point of view and flash-back. The acting (fourth part) enhances this dramaturgy. The performer who has multiple functions – character, storyteller, dancer, and director – juggles these principles, especially when he enters into the "substitution" process, a role-play that engenders striking effects of simultaneity. The annexes (Book III) contain the additional analyses (annex I) and the texts (annex II) and audiovisual materials (3 DVD-DLs with booklets) related to the performances. The thesis itself, including the montage of the films, is structured in such a way that it reflects the dramaturgy of Kutiyattam, and notably its use of stop-in-time.
***********
Librairies :
BnF (site Opéra national de Paris, Garnier),
Musée du quai Branly,
Bibliothèque du CEIAS (Maison de l'Asie, Paris),
Théâtrothèque Gaston Baty (Paris 3),
Bibliothèque universitaire Paris-8.
In Kerala : L.S. Rajagopalan foundation + Rama Chakyar home.
Ouvrage collectif
Sommaire
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
Préface.
Lyne BANSAT-BOUDON
« Cherchez où c’est quelque chose de pareil »
De quelques principes du théâtre indien.
Marie-Claude PORCHER
Les strophes et le déroulement de l’intrigue dans
le théâtre sanskrit.
Virginie JOHAN
Intrigue et représentation dans le théâtre Kūṭiyāṭṭam :
l’exemple du «Toraṇayuddham ».
Christine MAUDUIT
Intrigue et représentation dans le Philoctète de Sophocle.
Christophe CUSSET
La mise en place de l’intrigue dans le Bouclier de Ménandre.
Marie-Hélène GARELLI-FRANCOIS
L’intrigue dans l’Andrienne de Térence.
Jean-Pierre AYGON
L’intrigue dans les tragédies de Sénèque.
Contents of the 3 DVD-DL (in Ph.D.) : description of the 69 clips/films edited and subtitled in French
Few film clips are published here, with papers :
-- http://www.indologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/women_performers/contributors/johan/
-- https://vimeo.com/29031440
-- https://vimeo.com/29030558
Kudiyattam: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to the Living Sanskrit Theater of Kerala
Our aim is, first, to observe and experience and then to document and interpret,
in an analytical and interdisciplinary mode, the last surviving tradition of Sanskrit drama in performance in India - the Sanskrit theater of Kerala known as Kūḍiyāṭṭam
and its allied performative genres in this region, on the south-west coast of India....
Website manager:
[email protected]
Last Update: June 23, 2012
Gallery » Kudiyattam photos 2011
photos in courtesy of Virginie Johan
Auteur et conseiller scientifique : V. Johan
Documentaire grand public, diffusion TV et cinéma.
PRODUCTION: ZED avec la participation de TF1 / Ushuaia TV / TV5 Monde / RTBF / Equator HD Canada / YLE / TV3 / Canal Futura
Réalisateur: Jean QUEYRAT
Co-auteur et conseiller scientifique : Virginie JOHAN
Avec Rama CHAKYAR
Images: Jean QUEYRAT
Opérateur Prise de Son: Philippe POTHON
Montage: Bertrand COLLARD
Genre : Peuple & Ethnologie
Versions disponibles : Français, Espagnol, Anglais
https://presses-universitaires.univ-amu.fr/performance-litterature-asie-du-sud
2019. « Aṅgulīyāṅkam, Rāmāyaṇa-Veda of the Cākyārs », in H. Oberlin (Moser), D. D. Shulman, Aṅgulīyāṅkam and Mantrāṅkam, Two Masterpieces of Kūṭiyāṭṭam : New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 80 000 signes. *** Abstract *** Aṅgulīyāṅkam, the Act of the Ring, corresponds to the performance of the sixth act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, according to the Kūṭiyāṭṭam tradition of Kerala. The Cākyārs perform it as a kūttu, mono-action, for 12 days in seven Kerala temples (in 2016). On the basis of the Cākyārs’acting manual (āṭṭaprakāram), in Malayalam, and its performance, this paper demonstrates how the Kūttu condenses almost the entire Rāmāyaṇa repertoire of Kūṭiyāṭṭam into a complex, unique and unifying structure, and analyses its Epic dramaturgy.
English abstract :
"Even the squarrels do what they can : knowleddge-transmission as enacted in Kūṭiyāṭṭam".
Squirrels are watching a rehearsal between the Kūṭiyāṭṭam actor-master Rāma Cākyār and his disciple Saṅgīt Cākyār. The student is performing the beginning of what is known as « Śrī Rāma’s retrospection », a long narrative flash-back that is inserted into the second act of Śaktibhadra’s Āścaryacūḍāmaṇi, a Rāmāyaṇa Sanskrit play. The session lasts two hours, working up to a climax known as an « extension », a sequence of pure mime during which Lakṣmaṇa builds a forest-hut for his brother Rāma. Armed with the acting manual (the sub-text of the scene, written in Malayalam), a pen, a camera and a tape-recorder, I record and describe the work. This article provides an opportunity to discover the specific narrative dramaturgy, the actor-storyteller’s role as well as the acting conventions of Kūṭiyāṭṭam. Moreover it outlines how in the transmission process direct instructions enrich the formula given in practitioner’s acting manuals. As squirrels help Rāma to build the bridge to Laṅkā, the master and disciple « do what they can » – as the Malayali proverb goes – to carry on the long and fragile chain of their art. How? The answer to this question – which is also a key-word of the Kūṭiyāṭṭam dramaturgy – requires analysing the orders, advice, words, acts, gestures, blackouts, actions, moods, etc., that constitute the knowledge involved.
With films : http://www.indologie.uni-wuerzburg.de/women_performers/contributors/johan/
Résumé
Enfant, tout Cākyār – nom de la caste des maîtres-acteurs de Kūṭiyāṭṭam – doit monter sur la scène de l’un des « temples du jeu » (kūttampalaṃ) des temples hindous du Kerala. Il y joue un premier rôle d’Acteur. Ce rite d’institution ancien met en abyme la société et l’art des Cākyār. Il nous fait réfléchir sur les relations entre théâtre et société et sur la nature du « jeu ».
Abstract
During childhood, each Cākyār – or member of the caste of actors that perform the ancestral Indian theatre of Kerala, Kūṭiyāṭṭam – has to play a first role of Actor on the stage of a temple-theatre, in a Hindu temple. This constitutes not only a fascinatingly unique rite of passage, but also represents a deep mise en abyme of the Cākyār’s society and theatre. It makes us reflect on the relations between theatre and society and on the "actor’s act".
Mots-clés
Acteur, jeu, société, mise en abyme, distanciation, codification, anthropologie, esthétique, Inde
Second edition : 2017 : https://nartanam.in/product/2017-volume-one/
Panel XXXI Presentation
http://www.gis-reseau-asie.org/congres-2005/resumes-et-articles-des-ateliers-2005-par-thematique/xxxi-vers-une-anthropologie-esthetique-le-cas-des-arts-performatifs-en-asie-terrains-et-methodes
http://www.sahapedia.org/conversation-virginie-johan
Discussion ayant fait suite au colloque :
2015 * International Symposium on Kudiyattam: Anguliyankam and Mantrankam, The German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research & Development, Trichur, Kerala, 9-11th Jan.
A paper will follow : in E. Ganser, E. Debicka-Borek, Theatrical and Ritual Boundaries in South Asia, Cracow Indological Studies (vol. 19), 2017.
2001. « Découverte et apprentissage du kutiyattam (Inde) : recherches sur le langage de l’acteur. Résumé de la maîtrise », Registres 6 : 118-119.
M2/M.Phil Abstract (2000)
« Le théâtre, c’est l’Asie », aime répéter le metteur en scène A. Mnouchkine, en référence à la puissance des codifications des innombrables pratiques spectaculaires anciennes du continent. Inversement, « l’Asie, c’est le théâtre », en ce sens que ces théâtres reflètent comme dans un miroir sublimant des civilisations dont les fondements et les techniques du corps sont de moins en moins prégnants dans la société moderne. Je propose vérifier cette hypothèse en prenant l’exemple d’une cérémonie de « première scène » indienne. En quoi cette scène ancestrale offre-t-elle un paradigme des relations étroites qu’entretiennent théâtre et société en Asie ? En quoi montre-t-elle que le théâtre est un laboratoire anthropologique idéal ? Que nous dit-elle sur le « jeu » lui-même ?
Critique du documentaire Le Cauchemar de Darwin, et entretien avec le réalisateur H. Sauper.
Critique sur un théâtre marionnettique réalisé dans dans les cafés parisiens