Street theatre
From Free net encyclopedia
Street theatre is a form of theatrical presentation and performance in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are large numbers of people. The actors who perform street theatre range from buskers to organised theatre companies or groups that want to experiment with performance spaces, or to promote their mainstream work. In Chicago, Illinois, hot dog vendors attract crowds by loudly expressing revulsion at customers who want ketchup on hot dogs. Sometimes performers are commissioned, especially for street festivals, children's shows or parades, but more often street theatre performers are unpaid or gather some income through the 'dropping of a coin in a hat' by the audience.
The logistics of doing street theatre necessitates simple costumes and props, and generally there is little or no amplification of sound, with actors depending on their natural vocal and physical ability. This issue with sound has meant that physical theatre, including dance, mime and slapstick, is a very popular genre in an outdoor setting. The performances need to be highy visible, loud and simple to follow in order to attract a crowd.
Street theatre should be distinguished from other more formal outdoor theatrical performances, such as performances of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in a garden, where there is a discrete space set aside (or roped off) and a ticketed, paying clientele who come to see the show.
In some cases, street theatre performers have to get a licence or specific permission through local or state governments, in order to perform.
Street Theatre in India
Predominantly leftwing open-air theatre, described by Safdar Hashmi as ‘a militant political theatre of protest [whose] function is to agitate the people and to mobilize them behind fighting organizations.’ Its origins are undocumented, but go back to the anti-British and anti-fascist struggles of the late 1930s. While it is certain that street theatre did take place in the 1940s, we have no precise information on actual plays. Chargesheet (1951) is among the earliest known street plays. Utpal Dutt recalls that this play was done at the instance of Panu Pal, who interrupted an IPTA rehearsal one day and urged those present to do a quick, short, improvised play on the imprisonment of Communist leaders. The very next day, at 5 p.m., Chargesheet was performed at Hazra Park in Calcutta to an audience of thousands of workers. It was then performed many times from Jalpaiguri to Canning. The Chargesheet experience left an impression on the young Utpal Dutt: he was obviously impressed by the robust, rough theatricality of the pathanatika, its immediacy and its political sharpness. He continued doing street plays, mostly during election campaigns, nearly till the end of his life. In terms of form though, the early street theatre seems to have mimicked the proscenium theatre, with the action often taking place in the open in front of a wall or some other backdrop, and actors entering from and exiting into improvised wings. Some plays, like Dutt’s Din Badaler Pala (Song of Changing Times, 1967) were more elaborate, even stretching to three hours. Even so, more formal innovations had to await a new generation of artist-activists.
The history of street theatre in India is broken, sporadic, intermittent, coinciding with periods of political upheaval. Contemporary street theatre began in the turbulent 1970s. Calcutta saw hundreds of street performances by radical groups. With the Emergency, the semi-fascist terror against communists, and the Naxalbari upheaval, street theatre entered a new and potentially dangerous phase. Street theatre activists were attacked, often by the police, and this resulted in the death of at least two activists, Ashis Chatterjee of Theatre Unit in 1972, and Prabir Datta of Silhouette in 1974. Many others were arrested, beaten up, tortured. In terms of form, the work done by Badal Sircar has had a great influence. After giving up mainstream theatre, Sircar experimented with open-air theatre and foregrounded the discontent of the rootless urban middle class in an intensely physical style. Though Sircar does not see himself as being a part of the street theatre movement, many street theatre groups have benefited from the workshops he has held all over the country.
In north India, street theatre was pioneered by Jana Natya Manch (Janam, formed 1973, and led till his murder in 1989 by Safdar Hashmi) and in south India by Samudaya (formed 1975, with many units all over Karnataka). Janam’s first street play Machine (1978) is a classic of the genre. Janam has logged about 7,000 performances of 58 street plays till October 2002, and many of these have been extensively translated/adapted, including in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Aurat (Woman, 1979), Halla Bol (Attack!, 1988), and Aartanaad (on child sexual abuse, 1996) are fine examples of a popular political theatre that combines a directness of address with aesthetic vigour. Theatre Union (founded in Delhi in 1983 and counting in its members Anuradha Kapur, Maya Rao, Rati Bartholomew and others) did some excellent street theatre before the group folded up around 1988–89. Among its best productions was Toba Tek Singh based on the short story of the same name by Saadat Hasan Manto. The other street theatre group in Delhi is Nishant, led by Shamsul Islam and his wife Neelima. In Punjab, the grand old man of Punjabi theatre, Gursharan Singh, has continued doing street theatre for over two decades, right through the years of militancy, braving threats to his life and inspiring a whole generation of young theatre artists. Some of the best street theatre in the country can be seen in south India. Though Samudaya’s Belchi (1978), about a real-life massacre of dalits in Bihar, was performed about 2,500 times, its overall street theatre output has declined over the years. 1989 was a high-point for street theatre, when, after Hashmi’s murder, 30,000 performances marked his birthday, 12 April. This day is observed all over the country as National Street Theatre Day. Many groups took to street theatre as a direct response to Hashmi’s murder. Among these is Praja Natya Mandali, Andhra Pradesh (PNM, formed 1942), with more than 1,000 units all over the state. Several hundred of these units are village based, and PNM members use traditional forms like the burrakatha and harikatha to sing, among other things, of the glorious peasant struggle of Telangana and to exhort the people to rise against exploitation. In neighbouring Tamil Nadu is Chennai Kalai Kuzhu (formed 1984), one of the most skilful exponents of the street theatre form. Their plays use a lot of colour and are marked by delightful slapstick as well as moments of sheer poignancy. The fourth south Indian state, Kerala, also has a lot of street theatre, but it is difficult to point out any one or two outstanding groups here.
Feminist groups, both of the left and the non-left variety, have turned to street theatre since the early 1980s, and have done some excellent plays. The most notable among these are Om Swaha (1979), originally done for Stree Sangharsh and then taken up by Theatre Union, and Mulgi Zhali Ho (A Girl is Born, 1983) written by Jyoti Mhapsekar of Stree Mukti Sangathana, Mumbai. In the 1990s, non-governmental organizations have also taken up street theatre, espousing a number of causes, like environmentalism, AIDS, and family planning. Didactic in purpose, most of this theatre is of indifferent theatrical quality. Unlike leftwing street theatre, which relies on the people’s voluntary contributions at the end of the performance, the NGO street theatre has been largely funded by the State and foreign donor agencies. On the whole, however, street theatre’s role in providing a voice to the voiceless has been considerable.
Readings: Hashmi, Safdar, The Right to Perform: The Selected Writings of Safdar Hashmi, New Delhi 1989
Seagull Theatre Quarterly (Calcutta), 16, December 1997