Walking Out, Speaking Up: Feminist Street Theatre in India

The late 1970s and 1980s marked an era of energetic and dynamic feminist street theatre in India. Everywhere, across cities and towns, groups, both amateur and professional, many led by women, presented stunning, audacious, moving stories of everyday violence, sexism, abuse and women’s resilience and strength in countering new and old forms of patriarchies. The presence of strong, vocal women at street corners, in marketplaces, in universities, presenting their stories and those of their sisters shattered the mould of the docile, invisible woman. The streets rang out with the sound of tambourines, drums, songs and so much more and words, music; actions engaged diverse audiences across the spectrum. Deepti Priya Mehrotra’s empathetic and engaged study documents the plays produced during the time, as groups and individuals that came together to protest and build a theatre of pain, rage, protest, that grew along with the autonomous women’s movement of the time. She shows how, in this process, perceptive, outspoken women emerged and rejected their ascribed roles, in order to carve out their own identities and remake the world as they wished it to be. Incorporating oral histories, auto-ethnography, playscripts, visuals, archival material and meticulously researched histories, Deepti Priya Mehrotra presents a layered analysis of this important moment in the history of the Indian women’s movement.