Farmers Movement Archive

Taking theatre route to breath new life into dying folk culture

Amritsar, March 14Putting indigenous theatre forms of Punjab such as nakkaals, bhands and genres like saang (a form of satirical dialogue) on the mainstream culturescape, Khalsa College’s Department of Theatre has been working with its students on the revival of folk theatre through research-based programmes as well as live productions.In its recent theatrical productions, the department has focused on presenting folk forms through modern themes, while its theory curriculum focuses on charting out road for revival strategies.Devinder Singh, head of Theatre Department, Khalsa College, says that keeping the folk theatre relevant is the biggest challenge. “Just like Bengal’s yatra theatre and UP’s nautanki, our folk theatre genres such as saangh, or mimicry and transition theatre such as behrupiye or nakkaals do not get much attention or visibility in the mainstream cultural landscape. There are so many sub-genres of folk theatre such as the tamasha that is performed in between giddha or saang that is done in Haryana that finds its roots in Punjab. Lack of modern theatrical platforms in rural belt meant that all these folk forms have been kept alive, though barely, in villages of Punjab. But if it needs revival, mainstream theatre devices will have to be employed to raise them to a bigger platform,” he said.He says that the folk theatre forms of Punjab need similar approach of theatre revival like that in Maharashtra, Assam or Bengal. “Their folk theatre has gone international because they managed to strike a balance between modern themes and originality of folk theatre. Though, in Punjab, bhands have managed to gain some visibility it has failed to transform their lives.”Emannual Singh, one of the teachers, at the Theatre Department of Khalsa College, and a noted theatre director, had recently presented a play Kade Daade Diyan, Kade Potte Diyan, that used kavishri as one of the narrative tools. Similarly, the department’s another presentation, a play titled Vismaad, presents Gurbani in form of absurd theatre. Vismaad was recently staged at the Singhu border and we have done 15-16 shows of the play in several cities in the past two years, except for 2020. Revival will only happen when these forms find their place on the stage, in productions that have large audience and commercial prospects,” said Devinder.

The Tribune

2021-03-15