Kaṭṭaikkūttu’s Performance Spaces
Date
2021-05-24
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Abstract
Kaṭṭaikkūttu performances can be seen as
examples of complex interweaving at different
levels, including the use of multiple media,
the ways in which the persona of an actor
‘interweaves’ or coincides with that of the
character he embodies (to the extent that the
division between self and acted other and
between real and play at times becomes thin, and the way in which the
substance of the location impacts on the medium
of performance. Overnight performances are
literally grounded in the soil of the village (ūr)
or colony, a physical and emotional condition
that contributes not only to defining locality,
community and personhood within a Tamil
cultural context but also to flowing over and
interweaving with the substance of performance
in that particular location and space.
When Kaṭṭaikkūttu is taken out of its rural,
overnight context and transplanted onto
an urban (proscenium) stage for audiences
unfamiliar with the theatre’s actual and
dramatic language, this results in a certain
degree of distancing of performers, medium and
spectators and, consequently, diminishes the
spectators’ ownership of the performance. The
specific constellation of Karnatic Kaṭṭaikkūttu’s
performance spaces, in particular those with
racked seating, reduced the proximity of
performers and spectators and the possibility
for their interaction.
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Hanne M. de Bruin & Sue Rees (2020) Kaṭṭaikkūttu’s Performance Spaces, Performance Research, 25:6-7, 89-107, DOI: 10.1080/13528165.2020.1903708