 Bharata in his Natyashastra discusses every aspect of theory and practice of drama, which for him is a composite art. He had laid down aesthetic concepts. He conceived the art of the actor in a four-fold scheme namely - vachik (speech), angik (bodily movements), aharya (costume, make-up and scenic design) and sattivika (psychic states). Performance tradition, taking advantage of Bharata's four fold scheme of abhinaya (histrionic art) created many performance modes by maximizing or by minimizing one or more than of these for aspects. Bharata also conceived two ways of stage behaviour of the performer namely, Lokdharmi, having the traits of people, that is, naturalistic, and Natyadharmi, having the traits of theatrical behaviour, that is stylized. He also conceived four Vritties, that is, style of performance. Finally, he developed his supreme aesthetic concept of Rasa or flavour, of aesthetic experience which organizes and integrates all these disparate concepts. Rasa is essentially a theory of communication and for its realization an initiated and responsive audience, termed as Rasik, is required. Theatre and all performing arts of classical music and dance also demand an initiated audience.
Performing conditions, character of the performance space and seating arrangement of spectators in relation to the performers are some of the factors which determine the aesthetics and practice of traditional forms.
Space
The character of space and spatial conventions, play a vital role in determining all kinds of performance practices. In India performance space can take many forms, shapes and character. It can be a special sacred space or, an ordinary space made special and sacred by demarcating and consecrating it. The ordinary space used for a variety of social and secular performances can be fields after the harvest, market squares, public parks and gardens, streets and fair grounds. It can be a space surrounding the sacrificial altar (vedi) as was the case with the Vedic rituals, or a variety of spaces in a temple complex for many types of performances - from ritual events to such highly evolved dramatic forms as Kutiyattam and Krishnattam. A performance event, such as a celebration in the social life of the community of an offering to the gods, is a vital factor in selecting and conditioning the forms and nature of the theatrical space.
 Performances are also held in front of the village temple all over the country. Examples are ritualistic Rasa dances on the Krishna legend, the Lai Haroba processional ritual in Manipur, or the Teyyam ritual dances in Kerala. Terrukuttu, Yakshagana and many other forms are often performed on temple premises. Sometimes a temporary shrine is constructed, such as for Durga Puja in West Bengal or Ganesh Utsav in Maharashtra to specify space for rituals and cultural performances. This temporary shrine is ritually abandoned after the festival is over, and the image of Durga, which had been installed for the duration of the festival, is immersed in a river. The immersion ceremony in itself acquires the character of a cultural performance with religious procession, singing and dancing the incorporation of many elements of social and secular life.
An important factor that determines the nature of scenography is the non-realistic and metaphysical treatment of space. The playing area is a neutral, unlocalised space, easily manipulated by the actor and capable of serving the basic requirements of traditional theatre - multiplicity of locales and simultaneity of action. The actor, therefore, determines to a great extent the nature of the scenography. With stylized and symbolic make-up, gorgeous costumes, and huge, fantastic headdress, he stands on a bare stage disengaged from any kind of décor and creates a vivid scene with his own dynamic presence. The scenic effect is strengthened by the actor's codified gait, choreographic acting, and symbolic hand gestures.
Theatre does not simply occur in any available space. It creates its own space and alters the available space. The main factor is the presence of the possessed body of the actor. A given space acquires new forms, and its dimensions change according to where the actors take up their position. Performance space is the specialization of the actor's otherness, so to say. In the traditional environmental theatre, the entire space, both the performance space and the audience space, is animated and transformed in endless ways by the actor's movements.
 The character of theatrical space, its location and the surrounding natural and social environment provide the setting for a performance. A most spectacular and lively setting occurs in the Lila plays and some of the temple-based performances. This setting is reinforced by the descriptive portions in the text recited and sung by the group of reciters.
In forms like Kathakali and Yakshagan, for example, presented on an unadorned neutral space, the dramatic text carries the burden of describing the setting for the action. In Sanskrit drama, the dramatic speech in its two-track movement carries both the action and a vivid description of the setting. So, setting in the Western conventional sense of an aggregate of scenic means using a variety of materials and devices is unknown to the Indian traditional theatre. It is contained in the text and incorporated in the actor's body through highly stylized make-up and costume and symbolic hand-gestures.
Environmental conditions exist as part of the space and also affect the character of space which acquires variations with the movements of the spectators during the course of the performance and changing of the performing area by the actors. This very complex and multiple interaction between the performance space, its surrounding condition, and spectators and performers is a fascinating aspect of unconventional and unorthodox spaces. The performance design and its structure conform to and evolve in relation to the conditions of the space as they do not occur in isolation in closed spaces, but are part of larger environment and community life outside the performance space.
Time
 Cultural notion of time plays an important role in its treatment in drama. Drama as an imitation of action, which implies movement, is predominantly a time-bound literary genre. Aristotle and the great Greek tragedians were preoccupied with the problem of time in following their definition of tragedy. This was inevitable in a traditions where drama was supposed to deal with slice of life, focusing on closed, circumscribed action. Indian dramatic tradition on the other hand, did not have such compulsions. Since drama was conceived as an imitation of the states of the three worlds, the Indian notion of time involving cyclicity did not put any constrain on drama in regard to its time aspect. Indian drama dealing with the ancient myths and legends, mixing the affairs of gods and heroes resolved the problem by putting the action of drama in double time order, both divine and human as well as mythical and historical.
In a theatrical performance the lapse of time does not bother Indian audiences. The playwrights can also afford to be indifferent to the unity of time. Simple devices and conventions have been evolved for the treatment of time as for the space. Introductory explanatory and link scenes in Sanskrit drama, the narrator announcing the time and space of the action, entry songs describing the time and place of action, and characters themselves reflecting on and recapitulating the events indicating the temporal and spatial context - these are some of the conventions. The Acts of Sanskrit drama conceived in self-complete units often with separate names for each Act, and the old and continuing tradition of performing Sanskrit plays Act wise, as in Kutiyattam, made a rigid time framework to contain the dramatic action rather meaningless.
Time and Space
 The cyclic concept of time has exerted great influence upon the nature and treatment of drama, indeed upon all Indian arts. Notions of time and space determine the practice and conventions of all the arts - literary, performance and visual. From the great epics to the puranas, the folk tales, the classical folk drama, music and dance, from the temple panels to the medieval miniature paintings, folk paintings, painted scrolls and temple was hangings - all have evolved artistic norms and principles determined by the notion of time and space. They have also evolved common devices and conventions of treating time and space, or perhaps one has taken over from the other. This was natural in a tradition where arts have grown and flourished in a close relationship of interdependence and mutual exchange and deal with common thematic material drawn from the epics, myths and legends, which are steeped in a common cultural ethos.
In the oft-quoted prayer to Lord Shiva, we find a cosmic design of the dramatic spectacle, "We bow to the noble (sattvika) Lord Shiva whose bodily movements and gestures (angik) are the entire universe, whose speech (vachika) is all the written words, and whose costume and make-up (aharya) are the moon and the stars". The four elements of the art of histrionics discussed in Natyashastra have been given cosmic dimension in this prayer. The invocatory poem (nandi) in the Sanskrit plays places the action of the drama in a double time-space frame work - the divine and the human, the mythical and the historical.
The Half-Curtain
The half-curtain, some three meters in length and two meters in width is used in several forms like Kutiyattam, Krishnattam, Kathakali, Yakshagan and Rasalila and plays an important role in realizing the performance text. It is used to manipulate the actors' entrances and exits, making entrances and exists, making entrances revelatory and exits mysterious. The actors appear in action riding on a chariot, sitting in deep meditation, playing the veena. Then they disappear in action - going on a journey, engaged in combat, or ritual killing and dying.
The half-curtain also solves the problem of time and space in a non-realistic metaphysical way. The curtain stands for the lapse of time which could be any length of time. It connects different time sequences. It even connects the mythical and historical time and also the human and divine time. It is the same with the treatment of space. It links different spaces, even human and divine spaces. The performer reveals himself with the help of the curtain, and the spectators' expectancy to have a glimpse of the performer is intensified. It is like in some temples, where the vision of the deity is given to the worshippers after a ritual removal of the curtain. With the rituals of the preliminaries performed behind and in front of the curtain, it is charged with a religious spirit. It acquires the character of a symbol, and like all symbols, it has multivalance. It expresses simultaneously a number of meanings and purposes.
 In Kathakali, the use of the half-curtain for the actor's entrance has acquired a high degree of stylization. The technical term for this is 'tira nokku', that is curtain-look. This ceremonial and spectacular entrance in Kathakali is reserved for those characters who have an aggressive nature, are fearful, and possess enormous physical strength, such as Ravana, Bali and Hanuman. The entrance of these characters with the device of the half-curtain is quite elaborate and is dramatized. The actor stands behind the curtain holding in firmly with his two hands. There is also a fast heavy stamping by the actor keeping with the rhythm of the drums played vigorously. The curtain is ruffled violently, giving fleeting glimpses of the shining head gear. Raising and lowering of the curtain is repeated several times and it is shaken, moved upward, downward and sideways. The actor also makes occasional weird sounds and animal-animal like growls. And finally, the actor tosses away the curtain and establishes a most powerful entrance.
Yakshagan makes a most spectacular use of the half-curtain in manipulating a group entrance, as of the Pandava heroes. This makes a most powerful visual impact upon the spectator. The half-curtain is held vertically about one foot above the ground. When the actor-dancers perform the first part of the introductory dance, they dramatically move the curtain forward making it carved. Partly hidden behind the curtain, they reveal themselves to the audience bit by bit. The curtain is usually a six-by-eight feet rectangular piece of cotton cloth with the name of troupe, the village and deity to which it is attached, written on it. The half curtain is lifted by two stage-hands in all these forms; and their intrusion in the world of drama is a factor in itself affecting the performance text. Their presence is not noticed but their frequent and informal coming and going serves as a marker and helps in loosening the performance structure.
Frame
An important aesthetic principle and practice concern the framing of all kinds of performance modes. This, in its cultural specificity, plays an important role in the theatrical performance, by both the Sanskrit and the traditional drama. This intensifies our understanding of the problem of frame in the theatre. While elaborate preliminary procedure and Bharatvakyam (concluding verse) provides the frame for Sanskrit drama, in traditional drama the opening invocatory song and the concluding auspicious verse known by different names serve the same purpose.
A frame for the dramatic and performance text becomes necessary, as for any work of art, to mark out the boundaries between the world of representation and the real world. This separation of the artistic text from real life activity has both psychological necessity and semantic significance. But in theatre this separation of art and life is never absolute. There is constant intrusion of one into the world of the other. They interplay, overlap and mix almost naturally. This is more true in the case of traditional performances placed in the mildest of the community life to mark the rites of passage, cycles of seasons, to commemorate the birth and death of heroes, and to celebrate ritual conflict between the gods and the demons.
In determining theatrical frame, the cultural traits, notions of time and space, and the life-view of a people play a vital role. Indian culture with its cyclic notion of time marks both the beginnings and the endings. In some cultures the beginning is marked more prominently, in others the ending. Traditional performances also provide for out-of-frame activities in the form of ceremonials and religious rites in which spectators also participate. It allows the mixing of the way of art and that of life. It also helps in loosening the structure of the performance form. For instance in Kutiyattam, a rigidly structured mode, the character of Vidushak helps in loosening the structure.
Out-of-frame activities also provide an opportunity to the performer to temporarily come out of the role, disengage himself from action specially during the rituals and ceremonials in religious plays and comical interludes in social and secular plays. Lila plays - Ramlila and Rasalila-with their loose structure and fluid text and participative character allow a great deal of out-of-frame activity. Spectators freely participate in many ceremonials like arati and prasad distribution, shouting the glory of Ram and Krishna, Sita and Radha. In some of the folk plays like Khyal of Rajasthan, and Maach of Madhya Pradesh and Ramlila of Ramnagar, prompters with a copy of the play-scripts in their hands remain present in the performance all the time.
All traditional drama is fragmented and each major element of performance namely music, movement, gestures, dance, dramatic dialogues, story and narrative enjoys autonomy, and can be enjoyed separately. At the same time, there is also internal unity. In Kathakali for instance, the gestural discourage is closely related to and is the product of verbal discourse, but it also retains its autonomy and provides its own channel of communication. Similarly, in Kutiyattam the gestural is executed independent of the verbal discourse. The dramatic text which is recited and sung can also be enjoyed independent of the movements and intricate footwork, though generated by the dramatic text, can be enjoyed independent of the text.
In Indian context the traditional drama of all modes follows open time structure. This allow for a flexible dramatic structure and an epic quality to the organization of the narrative. As against this, the naturalist drama in order to create close structures of time and space, limits its action to a single locale, and equates the performance time with the fictional time span of the play. The aesthetics of reception is also totally different in the proscenium theatre where spectators watch a performance from a fixed seat and a fixed angle.
Structure is the essence of folk theatre. It is the logic of structure that sustains it and actors meet and give a performance without any rehearsal. These characteristics of traditional theatre have obvious similarity with those of the 'Epic' theatre as defined by its proponent Bertolt Brecht, the German playwright of the twentieth century. In the Epic theatre, it is not only various parts and sections of the dramatic story but also the various elements of performance such as music, movements, gesturers have an independent status and retain their character. They do not just become an appendage to the dramatic dialogues, intended to heighten emotional mood and create atmosphere as is their objective in the realistic, illusionistic theatre. Music is not manipulated to heighten the emotional states. Rather music pieces are incorporated in performance as a special element and are intended to obstruct the flow of action and to destroy the sense of illusion created by the ongoing performance on the stage. As in Brechtian theory and practice, various elements of performances are so used and presented that they destroy the idea of illusion. Musical instruments are not hidden from the spectators. They are shown being operated, and played on. Large brass lamp in Kathakali is constantly fed with oil; a stage-hand with two burning torches follows a demonic character to show and heighten his fury during the course of the performance.
Context
Traditional performances as part of some other great significance - commemorative events in the lives of gods and the cultural heroes, festivals, rites of passage, cycle of seasons, community celebrations, fairs and festivals - have a thick social cultural context. For an understanding of the nature of performance practices, conventions and aesthetics of traditional performances, their context in an important factor. Performers is associations with the spectators and the whole community also resort to what may be called context building strategies, which greatly enrich the experience and the aesthetics of these performances.
 In many towns, during Dushehra seasonas part of the Ramlila performance, jhanki (tableau) pageants and floats are taken but in a procession during the afternoons. They depict scenes from the episodes to be performed the same evening. There are also scenes from mythologies, even relating to contemporary topical events. In some cities as Allahabad, the jhanki procession is an important aspect of the Ramlila tradition. The jhankis depicting local and topical events bring social and secular material in these religious plays. Once, in Banaras, as part of the jhanki procession, a tableau depicting the local even of a dacoit killed in police encounter was shown. It is the same with the procession of Ganesh during the celebration of Ganesh Utsav in Maharashtra. In Terrukuttu of Tamil Nadu, traditionally performed as 18-day cycle drama, a discourse is organized on the Mahabharata every day from 2.00 to 6.00 P.M. Same night, performance of the episode dealt in the discourse is given. In the case of social and secular performance it is the atmosphere by festival which provides the much needed context.
Role Type
The aesthetic principle of the role type in traditional performances determines many important theatrical practices. Characters are given specific make-up and costume according to the role they are playing. They also make entry and exits in stylized gate fixed for various role types. This helps the spectators recognize the character easily and be responsive to the performance. The stories taken from the epics, mythologies and traditional lore are already known to the spectators. In many cases they are also familiar with the dramatic text. Kathakali plays are read and enjoyed as poetry. In case of Yakshagan during the rainy season there is interesting tradition of holding performance of the play text of Yakshagan in a form called Tal Maddale. In this form Bhagvata sits in the middle and the actors in two rows face each other without costume and make-up. There is only singing by Bhagwat and actors and elaboration in prose dialogues as in Yakshagan performance.
The practice of role type has greatly influenced the performance elements and conventions of many performance modes. In Indian performance tradition, the role type in forms like Kathakali and Yakshagan determines elements of performance such as costume, make-up, head-gear, gait for entrances and exits. Performer also does not enter the character, he keeps a distance and is fully conscious of his audience. He is in the performing arena, or raised platform to show his skill as a performer and to please his audience who are familiar with the stories and the characters and have assembled primarily to see and enjoy the performing skill of their known and favourite actors. The actor performs for the pleasure of his audience and is generally well versed in all the aspects of theatre arts viz; reciting, singing, dancing, miming and story-telling. He chooses those positions which show him best to the audience as if he was appreciating his own performance and seeking the approval of his audience. Most of the speeches are directly addressed to the audience. The actors keep the audience informed of their dramatic purpose often divulging designs and plans.
Another aesthetic principle leading to the rise of interesting dramatic practices in the relationship of the actor to his role. There are several approaches to this relationship depending on the theatrical tradition of a people. In Indian tradition, actor does not fully identify with the role. He remains aloof so that he can present the character as showman. Sometimes a special performance of Kathakali is organized for the presentation of Nala Charitam, the famous play in the Kathakali repertoire. Every great Kathakali actor aspires to do the role of Nala. In a special performance, the role of Nala is done by three great actors, all famous as actors of Nala. But over the years, each of them specializes in performing one section of the story. While one of them may specialize on the scene depicting the falling of Nala in love with Damayanti, the other in the separation of the couple and still other in the reunion of the couple. This writer saw such a performance once in Thiruannthpuram. This kind of performance totally negates actor-role relationship. In Yakshagan, sometimes two or three groups perform simultaneously in a large open common space doing the same play to a common audience. The performance is held in a competitive manner as a sports event, and watched and enjoyed as such.
Actor and character are the two poles of a duality which have been the subject of considerable historical and theoretical investigation and debate. The actor who enters the character; the character which, adapting itself enters the actor, the actor and the character which meet at a point half way between them; the actor who fixes and maintains a critical distance from his character - these are only a few of the more familiar formulations regarding this issue.
There are also devices and conventions to break actor-role relationship. A Kathakali actor, often after executing an important dramatic gestures, like throwing a challenge to his opponent, dramatically lifts the scarves hanging from his neck and looks proudly in the small mirrors stuck to the ends of the scarves. This shows his temporary delinking from the character he is portraying. He is also very relaxed and informal in a highly formalized performance, often sitting back on a stool and casually adjusting his headgear. It is the same in folk forms with his engagement and disengagement from the action. Just by withdrawing and sitting with the singers, he disengages and after a while by returning to the acting arena, gets engaged in the action.
Theatre of Performance Text
Traditional forms are a kind of performance text theatre, and dramatic text is not merely words but incorporates gestures, movements, music etc. From Kathakali to folk forms, all the theatre of performance text. As part of the training, the performer learns role, and absorbs music, dance, gestures along with the words. A codified Kathakali performance form is decodified by the actor during the course of performance. There are practically no rehearsals. During the training period, Kathakali actor does exercise for two years to make his body supple. After that he is taught roles in more than one type without make-up and costume. These training classes are called "Choliyattam". Later in the course of training the actor chooses to perform several roles within a particular role type. Later in life he specializes in just one or two roles of one type.
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