โ Scribed by Susan Seizer
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
A study of the lives of popular theater artists, Stigmas of the Tamil Stage is the first in-depth analysis of Special Drama, a genre of performance unique to the southernmost Indian state of Tamilnadu. Held in towns and villages throughout the region, Special Drama performances last from 10 p.m. until dawn. There are no theatrical troupes in Special Drama; individual artists are contracted โspeciallyโ for each event. The first two hours of each performance are filled with the kind of bawdy, improvisational comedy that is the primary focus of this study; the remaining hours present more markedly staid dramatic treatments of myth and history. Special Drama artists themselves are of all ages, castes, and ethnic and religious affiliations; the one common denominator in their lives is their lower-class status. Artists regularly speak of how poverty compelled their entrance into the field. Special Drama is looked down upon by the middle- and upper-classes as too popular, too vulgar, and too โmixed.โ The artists are stigmatized: people insult them in public and landlords refuse to rent to them. Stigma falls most heavily, however, on actresses, who are marked as โpublic womenโ by their participation in Special Drama. As Susan Seizerโs sensitive study shows, one of the primary ways the performers deal with such stigma is through humor and linguistic play. Their comedic performances in particular directly address questions of class, culture, and gender deviationsโthe very issues that so stigmatize them. Seizer draws on extensive interviews with performers, sponsors, audience members, and drama agents as well as on careful readings of live Special Drama performances in considering the complexities of performersโ lives both on stage and off.
Frontmatter
List of Illustrations (page xiii)
Acknowledgments (page xv)
Notes on Transliteration (page xxi)
Introduction (page 1)
PART ONE: The History and Organization of Special Drama
1. Legacies of Discourse: Special Drama and Its History (page 43)
2. Prestige Hierarchies in Two and Three Dimensions: Drama Notices and the Organization of Special Drama (page 86)
3. Discipline in Practice: The Actors Sangam (page 146)
PART TWO: Comedy
4. The Buffoon's Comedy: Jokes, Gender, and Discursive Distance (page 177)
5. The Buffoon-Dance Duet: Social Space and Gendered Place (page 202)
6. The Aแนญipiแนญi Scene: Laughing at Domestic Violence (page 232)
PART THREE: Lives
7. The Drama Tongue and the Local Eye (page 277)
8. The Roadwork of Actresses (page 301)
9. Kinship Muแนai and the Stigma on Actors (page 334)
Epilogue (page 365)
Appendix 1: Sangam Rules (page 375)
Appendix 2: Tamil Transliteration of Buffoon Selvam's Monologue, 1 April 1992 (page 381)
Notes (page 385)
Works Cited (page 417)
Index (page 433)
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