Page 299 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

274 Hema Rairkar

exchanges in a street drama form to which they gave the name ‘Social
Trap’. An account of some reflections resulting from that particular
experiment are presented in this chapter.

A Spontaneous Performance

The first specific characteristic of street drama is the spontaneity of
verbal and physical expressions. I mean that neither the speech nor
the gestures follow a text or a form written down beforehand as a
formal code to be perfectly repeated, but rather the requirements
of the extempore dialogue and improvised action of the performers.
At the time of the performance, the artist tries to be faithful to a
concrete situation which he or she has in mind as the only source of
inspiration for his or her words and acting. The direct or immediate
relation between the event and the dramatic performance gives an
effectiveness of its own to the traditional forms of people’s theatre, be
it entertainment or education.
Now, when the next morning the group evaluated the first collective
attempt made the previous evening, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., to give shape
to a show it was found that the spontaneity dragged it to lengths which
could not but be boring for the spectators. A dramatic expression could
not be a free discussion. So what was the alternative? It was decided to
determine the content of action and dialogue beforehand and discuss
each concrete improvisation together later, one by one. This led to
discovering the necessity and advantage of a constantly deeper and
permanent exchange to reach a better comprehension of the essential
contents and chalk out a sharper articulation through words and
gestures of the same.
One of the animators noted down the main phrases used by the
actors during improvisation to evaluate their relevance and effect.
The group, for instance, discovered the existence of sayings or short,
well-coined and very effective verbal forms used, for example, by men
when they want to reduce women to silence. It was decided to locate
these speech forms and give them a privileged position.
At the time of the performance, when the actress is actually
upset to the point of losing the required presence of mind and, as a
consequence, forgets at the required moment the prepared key phrases,