In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Kathakali was developing across Kerala’s temples. Christian community leaders and foreign missionaries wanted an art form that could present biblical narratives to Christian audiences. The result was Chavittunatakam, a dramatic theatrical form. Its debut at Mattancherry came under the influence of two Tamil Christian scholars, Chinnatampi Pillai and Vedanayakam Pillai.
Chavittunatakam was a counterpart to Kathakali, but its main model was European opera, not indigenous dance-drama. Actors did not rely on silent facial expressions and subtle hand gestures (mudras). They sang vigorously and spoke their lines. They stamped in time with the musical beat on a raised wooden stage. The intense, thunderous stamping of their feet (chavittu means to stamp) gave the performance the popular nickname Thattupolippan, meaning “platform-breaker”.
