THRISSUR: The theatre in East Africa has been undergoing a process of rejuvenation ever since the end of Apartheid and advent of democracy, Kenyan director Keith Pearson told a seminar on African theatre at the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (ITFok) here on Wednesday.
East Africa had a very rich ethnic culture. However, restrictions imposed by colonial rulers had an adverse impact on the culture in general and theatre in particular. Things started changing for the better after independence. “Theatre reflected the metamorphosis of history and through it one could present the ravages of colonisation,” Pearson said. Folk theatre expert A K Nambiar said Kerala had a rich and varied tradition of folk theatre. He was speaking on ‘Porattu Tradition and Malayalam Theatre’ at ITFoK.
“Most performing arts here are closely related to rituals, which are essentially a social drama. In this sense, all ritualistic performances such as theyyam, padayani, mudiyettu and pootan-tira fall in the category of theatre,” he said.
“Another traditional folk theatre form of Kerala is known as ‘porattukali’, again attached to some important rituals. The roots of Malayalam theatre could be traced back to porattukali,” he added.
In the evening, The Theatre Company, Kenya, presented the play, ‘Githaa’ directed by Pearson. It dealt with Kenya’s contemporary urban ghetto life with reference to its mythical and rural past. It is a thrilling tale of survival of a young woman drawn into the world of street performers, told through song, dance and dialogues in a mixture of English, Swahili and other vernacular tongues.