Mobile Theatre of Assam: Its Challenges

Mobile theatre of Assam has a long heritage in the field of performing Art. The term Mobile Theatre was first used by the renowned social worker RadhagovindaBaruah  in the remark  book  of Suradevi Theatre after seeing the performances in Latasil playground  of Guwahati. The first mobile theatre group of Assam was established in 1963. It was Nataraj theatre founded by veteran   theatre organiserAchyutLahkar. In fact mobile theatre took such an organised form after a long journey of more than 30 years in which it was in the form of Yatra and Opera in the initial stage. There is no other theatre in the world like Assamese mobile theatre. It has given Assamese culture an unique identity. Revolutionary drama worker BrajanathSarma’s  Kohinoor  Opera  was the pre indication of mobile theatre of Assam of 60’s. He was the pioneer of Assamese commercial mobile stage. AchyutLahkar introduced  several new things to the mobile theatre movement of Assam. Mobile theatre has been playing two roles  - one promoting drama as an art and one promoting  drama as a product. Mobile theatre is a mixture of art and commerce. It has also immense contributions to socioeconomic and educational upliftment of Assamese people. It always performs its social responsibility by enacting a dance drama either on socio-cultural issue or on mythological theme before the performance of the main drama.  It is a medium that has great impact on the viewers. The plays enacted by the theatre groups offered a veritable analysis of multifarious social evils. From the highly qualified spectators to illiterate villagers, all get the point to think on enjoying the performance of Mobile Theatre. Mobile theatre also contributes to the cultural environment of the state. Music and dance of mobile theatre is essentially of folk flavour. Over the years they have managed to capture and use the myriad tunes of the people of Assam, leading to the preservation and spread of folk forms, be it tunes or dance form. Mobile theatres have also great contribution to Assamese literature. They have created some new playwrights and offered many scripts to Assamese literature. Though it is not their purpose yet the mobile theatres help in the educational upliftment of the people indirectly. The very functioning of mobile theatre resembles to modern day’s social enterprise. Globalization has brought changes to the cultural taste of the people. Commercialization of culture has been started. It has created a market for drama in which Mobile Theatre groups are becoming sellers of drama. In fact, taking the challenges of globalisation they have changed themselves while this change itself  has brought new challenges to them. In the process drama has lost its artistic value. So, these changes are not always positive. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyse these challenges as well as to provide solutions to it. In this study transformation of mobile theatre to social enterprise was found as a viable alternative.

Mobile theatre of Assam has a long heritage in the field of performing Art. The term Mobile Theatre was first used by the renowned social worker RadhagovindaBaruah  in the remark  book  of Suradevi Theatre after seeing the performances in Latasil playground  of Guwahati. The first mobile theatre group of Assam was established in 1963. It was Nataraj theatre founded by veteran   theatre organiserAchyutLahkar. In fact mobile theatre took such an organised form after a long journey of more than 30 years in which it was in the form of Yatra and Opera in the initial stage. There is no other theatre in the world like Assamese mobile theatre. It has given Assamese culture an unique identity. Revolutionary drama worker BrajanathSarma’s  Kohinoor  Opera  was the pre indication of mobile theatre of Assam of 60’s. He was the pioneer of Assamese commercial mobile stage. AchyutLahkar introduced  several new things to the mobile theatre movement of Assam. Mobile theatre has been playing two roles  - one promoting drama as an art and one promoting  drama as a product. Mobile theatre is a mixture of art and commerce. It has also immense contributions to socioeconomic and educational upliftment of Assamese people. It always performs its social responsibility by enacting a dance drama either on socio-cultural issue or on mythological theme before the performance of the main drama.  It is a medium that has great impact on the viewers. The plays enacted by the theatre groups offered a veritable analysis of multifarious social evils. From the highly qualified spectators to illiterate villagers, all get the point to think on enjoying the performance of Mobile Theatre. Mobile theatre also contributes to the cultural environment of the state. Music and dance of mobile theatre is essentially of folk flavour. Over the years they have managed to capture and use the myriad tunes of the people of Assam, leading to the preservation and spread of folk forms, be it tunes or dance form. Mobile theatres have also great contribution to Assamese literature. They have created some new playwrights and offered many scripts to Assamese literature. Though it is not their purpose yet the mobile theatres help in the educational upliftment of the people indirectly. The very functioning of mobile theatre resembles to modern day’s social enterprise. Globalization has brought changes to the cultural taste of the people. Commercialization of culture has been started. It has created a market for drama in which Mobile Theatre groups are becoming sellers of drama. In fact, taking the challenges of globalisation they have changed themselves while this change itself  has brought new challenges to them. In the process drama has lost its artistic value. So, these changes are not always positive. In this paper an attempt has been made to analyse these challenges as well as to provide solutions to it. In this study transformation of mobile theatre to social enterprise was found as a viable alternative.