Kattaikkuttu
கட்டைக்கூத்து
Kattaikkuttu is Tamil Nadu’s unique heritage theater. It is a Tamil-language based, physical and vocal form of rural, open-air ensemble theater that is widespread and popular in the northern and central parts of the state of Tamil Nadu in South India. Kuttu (கூத்து) means theater in Tamil; kattai (கட்டை) are the wooden ornaments, including differently shaped crowns, shoulder ornaments and breast ornaments, worn by the heroic, royal and usually male characters.
Kattaikkuttu uses different kinds of song, music, articulated prose, acting, movement, make-up and elaborate costumes to produce all-night narrative events most of which are based on the pan-Indian epic, the Mahabharata.
Besides the stunning visual appearance of its characters, what strikes one in Kattaikkuttu’s performances is their high energy and heroic nature, their characteristic sound—exuberant, loud, pervasive, upfront—and their irrepressible comedy.
Kattaikkuttu used to be an all-male theater. With the establishment of the Kattaikkuttu Gurukulam, training and performances have become accessible to girls and young women too.
As a “folk” theater, Kattaikkuttu enjoys little social standing and respect although it is complex and profoundly meaningful. Therefore, parents in rural and urban areas hardly ever envisage Kattaikkuttu as a sustainable and dignified career for their children.
The urban, educated middle classes tend to think of Kattaikkuttu as a theater that lacks sophistication and taste and they question its ability to be “contemporary”. Yet it requires multiple skills and years of intensive training to become a professional performer.
Kattaikkuttu performances are booked and paid for by ordinary rural people. Night-long performances are integral to a rural, agrarian culture that celebrates the planting of new crops, the coming of the monsoon and the end of the harvest through seasonal, religious festivals. Performances are put on to ensure the well-being of the entire village community.
In addition to their ritual function, these performances are also thoroughly engaging and entertaining events. They enable rural people to see themselves, their family dramas and the dilemmas and controversies they face in everyday life, acted out on the stage.
Where can I see Kattaikkuttu?
At our annual Performing Arts Festival. The next one will be in 2025.
All-night village performances are free and can be attended by anyone who is able to figure out their exact location. You can contact the Sangam and ask us to find out.
Performances at urban locations and cultural festivals usually are of a shorter duration and often are ticketed.
Alternatively, you can commission your own performance through our Visitors Program.
Repertoire
Traditional plays
Kattaikkuttu’s repertoire consists of traditional Mahabharata episodes, such as Draupadi’s Marriage, Royal Sacrifice, Dice and Disrobing, Draupadi-the-Kuratti, Abhimanyu and Karna Moksham, in addition to a few purana stories. Rajagopal has reworked and edited some of the all-night plays in order to create scope for his young women performers and to highlight — and sometimes contemporize — salient aspects of a dramatic plot.
In addition to their all-night, 8-hour versions, some of these plays can be presented on request in a condensed 1-2 hour format.
New productions
Inspired by requests for new performance material, whether from his youngest students, seasoned Kattaikkuttu actors or the curators of the Adishakti Ramayana Festival, Rajagopal has been a versatile author of new plays — for adults and for children. In his plays he investigates different social themes and issues, using Kattaikkuttu as his medium of expression. His play for children Magic Horse (மாயக்குதிரை) was published by Tulika as part of a children’s book in 2005. The play was also translated into Kannada. Three of his original plays, Milky Ocean (பார்கடல்), his adaptation in Tamil of a Rabindranath Tagore play with the title Deliverance (விடுத்தல்) and RamaRavana (ராமராவணா), a critical take on the Ramayana, were published by Kalachuvadu in 2014.