Voicing the ‘Voiceless’: Post Independence Indian Street Theatre

Pages:13-15
Jyoti Sheoran and Monika Dhillon (Department of English, CRS University, Jind, Haryana)

Bruce King rightly describes postcolonial nations as the new centres of consciousness in late twentieth century literature, in which writing has been shaped in important ways by the politics of nationalism as well as the themes of the long period of cultural assertion and opposition that was part of the context of political independence (Dharwadker 21). All over India the fifties and sixties were times of political unrest and social upheaval. Theatre activists were becoming disillusioned with the British conventional theatre. After independence, street theatre got a shot in the arm as India decided to follow a democratic form of government where freedom of speech and public expression were guaranteed by the fundamental rights of the constitution. The Indian People’s Theatre Association activists found theatre a potent weapon for contacting the people and voicing their opinions.