Thambi Payyappilly lives on the island of Gothuruth in suburban Kochi and drives an autorickshaw for a living. Endowed with a stentorian voice, he is the chosen one who goes around the island announcing deaths among the Latin Catholic laity.

But Thambi also has a Sangeet Natak Academy award as a thespian of Chavittunatakam theatre. On most nights, Thambi becomes Charlemagne, the emperor who ruled much of Western Europe from AD 768 to 814.

Chavittunatakam is a Latin Christian folk theatre form popular in central Kerala, and Thambi has acted on hundreds of stages, captivating audiences with his scintillating role as Charlemagne, or Carelman as he is called in Malayalam.

The folk theatre form has its roots in estuarine Cochin where Portuguese missionaries set up their first mission. Its story line, costumes and accoutrements still have a strong European touch.

Thambi began training as a 15-year-old under George Kutty Ashan and debuted with a minor role in Sathyapalakan. The Gothuruth Yuvajana Kalasamithi, established in 1954, was his training ground. Almost four decades later, he is still the shining star of Carelman Charitham, the theatre’s most popular play.

Once, no church festival would be complete without these 15-night shows with 100-plus performers on stages that were 100 feet wide. Now, the plays have been crunched into two hours with 20 or so actors. The plays have also moved out of churches, and live orchestras been replaced with digital playback.

Thambi has directed over 10 plays and has some 40 students. He has trained some 1,200 students for school arts festivals. Last year, he composed Vamanavataram, but could not stage it because of the Kerala floods. He plans to stage it this year, along with another play based on Hamlet.

(Images and text by Thulasi Kakkat)