Folk elements in street theatre as an instrument of mass communication a selective study from 1950 to present day

Abstract

Street theatre is essentially a performatory tool used mainly for the purpose of communication and protest. Grounded in a simple, and often minimalist, approach, but loaded with some sharp and immediate content, street theatre has aimed to evoke the masses in various issues happening in and around the society. Street theatre, despite its predominantly urban upbringing, often incorporates folk elements to make its messages more effectively entertaining and more popular. Such folk elements are folk songs, dances, folk musical and non-musical instruments, folk food and utensils, folk rituals, folk language, myths and legends, story-telling technique etc. These folk elements do shape and sharpen messages for the majority of the lay audiences. newlineStreet theatre centers round a variety of social, political, cultural, environmental issues and questions. It is as if the characters, appearing readily in some open public space, are very much like them and voicing their own issues. People can watch street theatre free of cost. No barrier of tickets, hall and acoustics, seating arrangements, techniques of light and sound, gorgeous and ornamental costumes and make-up are there. Street theatre thus broadly refers to a production that relates to some non-proscenium dramatic performance in an open public space without a specific paying audience. newline