Kattaikkuttu is a rural theatre form practised in the State of Tamil Nadu in South India.[1] The performers – by tradition only men – sing, act and dance and the musicians accompany them on the harmonium, the mridangam and the mukavinai. The terms Terukkuttu and Kattaikkuttu are often used interchangeably. However, historically the two terms appear to have distinguished, at least in certain villages, between two different kinds of performance: while Terukkuttu referred to mobile performances by two actors participating in a procession for the village deity Mariamman, Kattaikkuttu denotes overnight, narrative performances at a fixed performance space acted by an ensemble of about fifteen actors and musicians.[2]
- ^ Jackie Assayag (1999). The Resources of history: Tradition, narration and nation in South Asia. École française d'Extrême-Orient. ISBN 978-2-85539-607-1.
- ^ Bruin, Hanne M de (1999). Kattaikkuttu: The flexibility of a south Indian theatre tradition. E. Forsten. pp. 85–99. ISBN 978-90-6980-103-2. OCLC 42312297.