The Minnaminungale group consists of Malayali actors, only a few of whom are permanent. The others join the group on a production to production basis for workshops or training. Since puppetry demands eclectic skills, the training is open to different sort of artists—actors as well as dancers, sculptors, painters, story tellers, musicians. The training weaves together the various threads of expressions—craft, dance, acting, etc.
The director, Brigitte Revelli, is a French artist living in India for the last 15 years. She combines her background in contemporary dance with Kathakali and sculpture to create new forms of puppetry. Revelli and the the Minnaminungale group have toured extensively under the umbrella of the Alliance Française network. They have performed at The Surya Festival in Trivandrum and The Other Festival in Chennai.
The Minnaminungale group is based in Kokkur, a village situated in the Mallapuram district of Kerala. It is their home base where a creative exchange between professionals and art lovers, adults and children, Indians and foreigners is allowed to emerge.
1 hour 20 mins Never for Ever is a puppet and mask show based on the Panchatantra and the tales of the 17th century French poet, Jean de Lafontaine. The play presents a rhapsody of short stories selected from these two works, whose two poets, Vishnusharma and Lafontaine make their appearance as mischievous narrative characters.
The production involves masks, actors, projections, life size puppets and an original musical score intimately woven together with narration and dialogues. Though largely visual, the play was conceived in Malayalam and has later been translated into English and adapted into various other languages.
At the Kuttu Festival 2005, Never for Ever will be performed in its original language, Malayalam, with an introduction in Tamil.
The Minnaminungale group
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