The Sense of Resisting Power in the Performance of the Makidi Kooththu (Art Form) - A Study

Abstract

The Makidi Kooththu is a significant art form in Sri Lankan traditional Art Theatre. This argues the disputes among the people who arrived and the people who already there in a ritual form. In the later period, it has grown up to the level of a space which is incorporating people even from the social power space, and debating at the performance level. This has the feature of exposing the power that cannot be able to interpret the opposition directly, converting and presenting it as a ritual art form creation in their cultural space. The important mechanism used here is to allow the audience to have conversation during the performance level of Kooththu and to make them think. The ritual form which is in practice among people is one of the strategies used by them to expose this sense of resisting power. This Makidi Kooththu is a People's stage device which is created in a ritual art form theatre in order to curtail the power. The factors such as the way the ritual form is managed and the manner the power is resisted are analysed here.