For over a century, the folk theatre of Ramleela, which translates to “the play of Ram,” has been performed in TT, mainly in the town of Felicity. With the use of elaborate costuming and props, breath-taking decor and lighting, narration, acting and singing, the re-enactment of the Ramayana tells the story of the life of king and hero warrior, Ram – from the day he was born and encapsulating all the significant events in his life, including his rescue of Sita and his triumphant return from exile to rule his beloved Ayodhya in northern India.
In his book, Ramleela in Trinidad: 100 Years of the Felicity Open-air Folk Theatre Tradition, classical dancer, choreographer, arts director and musician Dr Satnarine Balkaransingh takes a comprehensive and well-researched look at the festival and its evolution over the years.
“While the text has not changed, there have been changes in the social criteria and guidelines used for the selection of performers. Changes have been effected in the costuming, funding of the production, the performance timings, use of technology, female involvement and management of the performance,” Dr Balkaransingh observes.
[caption id="attachment_945668" align="alignnone" width="683"] Dr Satnarine Balkaransingh, author of Ramleela in Trinidad: 100 Years of the Felicity Open-air Folk Theatre Tradition. [/caption]
Culling information from various sources including books, websites, academic institutions, historians, scholarly journals, published and unpublished research papers, interviews with people involved in the production, and his own ethnographic research, Balkaransingh explores the effusiveness and variants of the story.
“In Sanskrit alone there are at least five versions…In addition to the above five major versions in the Sanskrit language, there are at least 25 major recorded versions of the Ram story across India alone, in 11 separate regional Indian languages,” he writes.
Before he delves into the popular Felicity Ramleela celebrations and its vibrant history, Balkaransingh puts the story into context by examining enactments of Ramleela in Asia and the Indian diaspora, South America and the Caribbean, noting the role migration played in taking the observation of the tradition into Europe and the US.
As a performing artiste himself, Balkaransingh is quite familiar with the time and effort that goes into a production of this nature, and easily expounds on the numerous elements of the production – from the selection of text, script and language of the narrative; to casting; music; costuming; effigies; the selection, preparation and consecration of the performance space and everything else that go into the show. He then gives a detailed day-by-day description of how the story unfolds with accompanying photos.
[caption id="attachment_945667" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In this Ocotber 2019 file photo villagers reenact a scene where Lord Rama and devotees search for Sita during Ramleela in Felicity. -[/caption]
“The Leela or story is enacted on an epic scale in 11 consecuti
