About the Talk
This talk engages with the tradition of street theatre that emerged in India in the latter part of the twentieth century and which continues into the present day as a popular and widely used form of theatre. With particular reference to the company Jana Natya Manch (People's Theatre Front), a New Delhi-based company specialising in political performance but also covering groups practicing the form in other parts of India. What are the roots of this tradition, both national and international? What can we learn about theatre’s ability to provoke social change through the discussion on street theatre? 

Speaker
Dr Aparna Mahiyaria is a Lecturer in Drama in the Department of Communication, Drama and Film at the University of Exeter (UK). Her research examines how performance practices emerge from and intervene in their political contexts, focusing particularly on the relationship between theatre and efficacious political organising. She completed her PhD in Drama at the University of Exeter in 2020, which explored these questions through an examination of street theatre in Delhi. Before joining Exeter as a lecturer, she taught at the Performing and Visual Arts Division at Ahmedabad University, and at University of Exeter in the Drama Department and the Liberal Arts Department. She has worked as an editor with the Indian Cultural Forum, a New Delhi-based organisation that platforms topical conversations on national and global culture and politics. She has been associated with renowned theatre groups such as Jana Natya Manch and Asmita Theatre Group and has delivered workshops aimed at developing student and institutional engagement with theatre and performance as a discipline across several higher education institutions in India. Her current research investigates how theatre practitioners in India navigate legality and legal institutions, and how encounters between theatre and law shape the creative and political landscape of contemporary performance.