Indian Folk Theatres

Based on twelve years of research, this book provides detailed descriptions of the culture of folk theatre and outlines its importance for practitioners, audiences and the worldwide theatre industry, presenting a unique angle on selected performances.

---

Indian Folk Theatres is theatre anthropology as a lived experience, containing detailed accounts of recent folk theatre shows as well as historical and cultural context. It looks at folk theatre forms from three corners of the Indian subcontinent:



Tamasha, song and dance entertainments from Maharastra
Chhau, the lyrical dance theatre of Bihar
Theru Koothu, satirical, ritualised epics from Tamil Nadu.

The contrasting styles and contents are depicted with a strongly practical bias, harnessing expertise from practitioners, anthropologists and theatre scholars in India. Indian Folk Theatres makes these exceptionally versatile and up-beat theatre forms accessible to students and practitioners everywhere.