<B>The World's Oldest Surviving Form of Theater</B><P>By Jochen Schmidt in The Frankfurter Allgemeine <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>BERLIN. Whether Kutiyattam developed in the second or ninth century is a matter of dispute in the study of theater arts. At any rate, this Sanskrit theater, which like most Asian theatrical styles is a mixture of music, dance and drama, is the oldest surviving form of theater in the world. So it is no wonder that Kutiyattam seems to belong to a dying breed, treated even at home in India as an art on the very fringe of the dance theater tradition.<P>The first time viewers saw Kutiyattam in the West was at the Indian Festival in Paris in 1985, where it was admired as a curiosity.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.faz.com/IN/INtemplates/eFAZ/docmain.asp?rub={B1311FFE-FBFB-11D2-B228-00105A9CAF88}&doc={2812C564-72E3-11D5-A3B5-009027BA22E4}" TARGET=_blank><B>more...</B></A><BR>