ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 has suggested dinlensions in which text and perforlnance overlap. 'This chapter \vill outline some of the many forms\vithin the spectrum of Indian performance and will take a look at the contexts in which thev arise and at their functions within those contexts. It will also lo~k at their effects on performers and spectators/ participants, and try to assess what kinds of influence they have. It will however confine itself (if that is the right word) to ltraditional' forms as discussed by e.g. \!atsyayan (1980), Varadpande (1992) and Richmond ct at (1990); the contemporary situation is profiled and discussed in Chapter 5. Some questions which are considered in this chapter are: What perspectives on performance does Indian theatre invite? Are these in any way compatible with aspects of contemporary western 'perforlnance theory'? Does performance instigate or make available new or extended ways of being and acting? If so. can we understand its processes as fundamental to mental, physical and emotional activity? The final section looks at the image and role of women in performance. The whole chapter, both by discussing different categories under which performance may be approached and by exploring some aspects of the kinds of processes it represents, points forward also to the question of how performance is theorised, which is the topic of Chapter 4.
