Desdemona moksham: A Shakespearean murder revisited

This article examines two performances, Othello in Kathakali and The Magic Hour, concentrating the analysis around two different choices made around a single action: the killing of Desdemona. While Desdemona is killed in the Kathakali Othello, in The Magic Hour this does not occur. The argument in this article differs from a critique that suggests Othello in Kathakali, created by Sadanam Balakrishnan and performed by the International Center for Kathakali in New Delhi, fails to nuance the inherent misogyny in the original Shakespearean text while improvising on its own conventions. A sustained counter argument is presented, which suggests that the design of the performance has enough new elements, fresh codes and reinvented conventions to address the political/racial theme of the story, and that any misogyny inherently lies not in the creator’s intentions, but rather in the Shakespearean text itself. The Magic Hour, on the other hand, negotiates the misogyny in the Shakespearean text more directly and, by choosing not to kill Desdemona, transforms the murder sequence into a scene of liberation, of moksham.