Kuttu can be called as the short form of terukkuttu. This is a 500-year-old folk form mainly of the northern districts in Tamil Nadu, comparable to Kathakali or Yakshagana. Its southern style has less sophistication in costumes and many imaginary tales in the repertoire. Over 200 professional companies perform. The performances occurred from March till mid-September. Harvested land is the performance space, normally as part of Draupadi Amman festivals for ten to sixteen days at a stretch. Sometimes single shows are staged in individual households at funeral ceremonies.

During the day, the mythological story may be narrated in the temples and at night, the same story enacted. The play begins around 10 p.m. and goes on till 5 a.m. Sometimes the whole village takes part in Arjuna tapas .e. `Arjuna`s Austerities`, Bakasuran, and Padukalam i.e. `Prostrate on the Field`. This was about Duryodhana`s death. The village becomes an arena and all the villagers participate. The same happens at the eighteen-day enactment of the Kurukshetra war in Purisai village in Tiruvannamalai district. This was the best-known centre of Terukkuttu.

At these all-night shows, the performers sing, dance, speak, and act. They adorn themselves with colourful costumes and heavy ornaments, since the tales are drawn from the Puranas and epics. The headgear and winged ornament on the shoulders, called bujakirti, and chest shield are wooden. All of these jewelleries are together weighs 40 kg. The costumes are accordingly designed to go well with these accoutrements. On the waist is worn a multilayered, well-pleated, jutting-out dress called vittuduppu. Jingling metal anklets accentuate the vigorous, suggestive, and vibrating dance movements. The speciality of the steps is to finish by doing the spinning Mrukki. There are kirukkh performed on the knees as well.

A small tent functions as the green room in front of which a bench serves as the seat for musicians and also as the throne, chariot, terrace, or whatever location in which the play takes place. The instruments used are mukhavina i.e. a smaller, high-pitched version of the double-reed nagaswamm, harmonium, mridangam drums, and talam or cymbals. Those standing next to the musicians repeat all the songs.

Each character enters from behind a screen, announcing his name, lineage, and history. Men act women`s roles. Kattiyakkaran is a combination of vidushaka and sutradhara, dances in first, welcomes the spectators, propitiates the deities, leads the narrative, introduces the characters, explains the world of the story, takes on many roles, links the past to current society, and speaks the audience`s mind. He bridges the sensibilities of the actors and viewers. He can relax and tighten the narrative depending on the need of the hour. He even asks children to participate. The tales may be old, but the artists amaze by their ability to infuse contemporary references and opinions, particularly through Kattiyakkaran`s improvised colloquial jibes at gods and humans.

The Thambirans of Purisai produced three famous twentieth-century performers. They are Natesa Thambiran, Kannappa Thambiran, and N. Subramaniya Thambiran. Terukkuttu faced penury and near extinction in the mid-century, until national recognition lifted it to a sustainable activity, supported by grants and government trips to foreign festivals. In recent times, interesting experiments have taken place. With the interaction of Na. Muthuswamy`s Koothu-p-pattarai, the Purisai Terukkuttu Company adapted Garcia Marquez`s short story The Old Man with Huge Wings into their form. They also performed Brecht`s Caucasian Chalk Circle as an all-night show. V. Arumugham`s Thalai-k-kol group staged Moliere`s George Dandin as a Terukkuttu. The juncture of traditional Terukkuttu and modern theatre seems very promising.