Ta’ziyeh as a ritual performance is the most significant representation of the Iranian traditional- religious culture. Although Ta’ziyeh has been mostly researched either from the ritual or theatre aesthetic perspective, the ritual and theatrical elements in Ta’ziyeh, as other religious plays, are interwoven. Considering this interweaving, the aim in the following article is to show how, from the aesthetical point of view, there are a dynamic relationship between actor and audience in such a way that the audience is a co-player and the actor is a co-audience in Ta’ziyeh. In this way, it can be redefined anew the role of audience, specifically female audience.
By participating in each performance,which has its own time and place, the audience
and performers in Ta’ziyeh are able to
experience a “liminal” and “in between”
time and space. Regarding this aspect, the
other aim is to demonstrate how this feature
has a double -dialectic function on the
audience, particularly female audience. On
the one hand they repeat and stabilize their
social and cultural identities on the other
they segregate themselves from the daily
life and its belonging conventions and
norms.