Page 302 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

Street Theatre in Maharashtra 277

of August and September, when women sing and dance in circle). As
for the accompanying songs, some were chosen from those known to
the cultural action groups of the VCDA and others on the basis of their
relation with the tradition, but all relating to the difficulty of women’s
condition.
As the play had to be performed in a public place, in the open, the
entire group of actors and actresses was going to remain permanently
present and visible at the centre of the crowd of spectators, with each
actor coming to the centre of the circle according to the requirements
of his or her role. But as everyone did not have a precise role to play
in a scene at the same time, it was decided that those who did not
would project the various routine jobs in the life of a country woman
by miming silently, with the intention of maintaining continuously
the concrete images of the women’s condition as a background that
would be visible all the time. These included collecting the dung from
cowsheds, grinding and pounding, fetching water and firewood,
cooking, looking after children, sweeping and arranging, working in the
fields, and so on. A village atmosphere was recreated, in which men’s
roles were also represented. As it would have been boring for each
player to repeat the same action during the whole play, various male
and female roles were listed and actors could enact one or the other
at different moments of the play as per their liking. These small side
scenes provided the opportunity for a lot of improvisations according
to the mood of the actors at that instant. The main roles for each scene
were assigned. As it was to be expected that women participants would
sometimes be prevented from participating for various reasons, it
was thought that in principle each woman participant should be able
to substitute the absent companion at the last minute and, hence, be
sufficiently informed about the roles by and large or at least a few
of them.
The background mimes would not interfere with the main scenes,
but it was decided that at certain precise moments, the actresses would
sing the traditional women’s songs of the millstone while grinding.
This was in order to project the meaning of women’s condition as
this tradition has already articulated it even before present songs of
action groups expressed it in more modern and more critical terms.
It was necessary to show the absence of rupture of continuity with the
past. These songs were also intended to allow older village women to