Essay on Traditional Performances and Impact on Communities

TISB Drama teacher, Ms Sathya, has recently gotten her essay titled “Ritual, Community Preservation and Environment in Theyyam Performance” published by the Pennsylvania State University Press. The research was supposed to be presented in Ireland in July 2020 at the International Federation for Theatre Research. However, due to COVID-19, the conference was cancelled and the organisation selected a few papers for publishing instead. Sathya’s essay that is based on performance theory was one of them. We got in contact with Sathya to learn more about the paper.

The essay, written by Ms Sathya, is about rituals that are traditional to the ‘Theyyam’ art form from Kerala. Theyyam is an art form that has been used as a weapon to fight against the injustice and sectarianism of society. Its performative elements and design have major impacts on traditional and contemporary theatre practices – preserving the community and work as therapy in a changing environment. “My major concern when researching and writing on this specific topic was that traditional ritual and folk art is slowly being wiped out, due to cultural displacement and the threat of environmental changes”, says Ms Sathya and explains that this kind of art forms shows the connection between humans and nature.

Over the recent years, due to a negative economic development, the community of performers and artists have undergone a paradigm shift – something made even worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has changed the way that theatre performance happens. “Being a theatre practitioner for the past 21 years, it is important for any artists to have a wider perspective in looking at traditional forms and trying to discover an innovative performance language”, says Ms Sathya and highlights the importance of inventing unique practices with modern elements for the future. 

Ms Sathya wrote the essay as a continuation of her research fellowship, which she pursued under the Ministry of Culture, India, in 2009. “I have always been interested in looking at the art forms from a theoretical perspective, as well as being influenced by its performative aspects”, says Ms Sathya who wrote the essay for theatre practitioners, theorist and, of course, theatre students. “I am also connecting the specific paper with IB theatre since one of the courses is on traditional forms”, explains Ms Sathya who wants students to be able get deeper awareness of how to re-examine traditional forms from its cultural and social context with a theoretical perspective.

Ms Sathya explains that performance theories, that have evolved over the past 50 years in theatre, have major influences from traditional rituals as a result of theatrical devices and techniques used by performers. Many traditional art forms have been connected to psychology and it works as therapeutic methods in the community. “We really need to think of the future of the traditional forms and community artists”, says Ms Sathya, who believes that this may add a lot to contemporary praxis and future innovation of modern theatre. 

For her own future plans within research, Ms Sathya has started new avenues of research. “Traditional forms are slowly disappearing. So how do we find the ‘re-exhibition value’ by using the technology?”, asks Ms Sathya, who has started looking at theories, such as Walter Benjamin’s ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, as well as Jürgen Habermas’s theory on the ‘Public Sphere’. Ms Sathya will continue these types of inquiries both theoretically and practically, since she is deeply connected to traditional performers.

The essay is currently only available through the Pennsylvania State University Press. However,  the whole essay will be be available JSTOR database at a later stage. So keep your eyes open for traditional folk performances and Ms Sathya’s essay.