Natyachata

Natyachata of North Karnataka, or the Ekapatra of Mysore, is another recent and very popular theatrical form in the ambit of Kannada theatre. Its effectiveness lies in its technical expertise. An individual actor, all alone on the stage, creates for himself and the spectator, the illusion of a play. Like a man in the drawing room carrying a conversation with his wife who is in the kitchen, the actor converses with his invisible and inaudible opposite role and replies to all the latter?s whys and wherefores: a play is being enacted but only one character speaks. Natyachata crowns the work of a clever actor. Its duration is necessarily much shorter than that of a one-act play, for it would otherwise become monotonous. Its tone is humorous and its method arresting.

Many a natyachata like Ksheerasagara?s Mallige Chappara has a charming and sustaining theme and becomes impressive only because of the actor?s talent. It does not provide for any intense dramatic action on the stage but it can certainly picture a humorous situation and build up a climax. It is the intelligent use of the actor`s voice and his capacity to change the emotions sharply and quickly that brings success to the Natyachata.

The first natyachatas of scintillating humour like Rayarapuje came from the pen of the late Kaujalagi Hanumantarao, one of the most brilliant writers of Bijapur. The later ones like Halugandu of Krishnakumar, Edavida Kandilu of Sriranga, Mallige Chappara and Layer Prayana of Ksheerasagara established the natyachata as an ideal mode for a short and light entertainment. Later writers like N. K. Kulkarni, Ranganath, N. S. Gadagkar, and M. N. Babu contributed many more such ?mono-plays?. The Natyachata has further simplified the method of production, for; it does not call for any settings and other elaborate stage properties. Still, a suggestive and pointed natyachata, well performed, is as satisfying as a one-act plays in amateur theatres.

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