Stigmas of the Tamil stage

A study of the lives of popular theatre artists, Stigmas of the Tamil Stage is the first
indepth 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 "specially" 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 “mixed." 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 “public women” by their participation in Special
Drama. As Susan Seizer's sensitive study shows, one of the primary ways
the
performers deal with such stigma is through humour and linguistic play. Their
comedic performances in particular directly address questions of class, culture, and
gender deviations—the 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 performers' lives both on stage and off.
"Susan Seizer's moving and unique perspective on the fate of popular cultural
practices in an age and society dominated by the norms and prescriptions of
bourgeois modernity makes her work important and insightful not just for scholars
of South Asia but for all those who are interested in the general problematic of
popular culture, performance traditions, and modernity globally." --SUMATHI
RAMASWAMY, author of The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic
Histories.