Artistes perform at the book fair. Picture by Jai Prakash

Poonam doesn’t mind being a goat but only if she is acting in a street play.

“Nukkad natak karna acchha lagta hain (I love doing street plays),” said the 13-year-old school student. She has indeed played a goat in a drama called Women’s Exploitation at a United Nations meet in New York. Poonam repeated her performance at Patna Book Fair, where many other artistes are also performing.

Rataneshwar, president, Centre of Readership Development — the organisers of the fair, said: “More than 10 plays will be performed by 13 groups at the book fair this year.”

Some of the important groups are Adharm Yuddh, Mehangu Express, Nari Ka Sapna, Viroddh and Mahila Shoshan. They will be performing at Gandhi Maidan — the venue of the book fair — from 2.30pm to 3.30pm till November 21.

Recalling the history of street theatre at the fair, which adds a carnivalesque touch to the event, Rataneshwar said: “In 2000, only four groups had performed at the fair. Seeing the enthusiasm of the people who had come to watch the plays, I requested National School of Drama, New Delhi, to perform.”

Artistes from the premier theatre institution performed at the fair in 2002.

“It’s more than 10 years since then. Times have changed and so have the nature of street plays,” said Rataneshwar.

Other, however, claimed that some fundamental features that make street plays so attractive have remained unchanged. Anish Ankur, a cultural activist of Patna, said: “Some characteristics of street plays never change. They continue to be democratic, secular and address social concerns and raise questions that make people think. It connects with local people and has turned into a powerful medium of communication.”

The origin of post-Independence street plays in India is closely related to class and social struggle. Two of the most famous practitioners and leaders of street theatre — Badal Sircar and Safdar Hashmi — used the medium effectively, not only to entertain but also to spread social messages.

At the Patna Book Fair, there is no censorship on the subjects that plays can explore, claim artistes. Rachna, one of the artistes, said it gives her great satisfaction to perform at the fair. “This is the only fair where we can perform any theme we like. There is no restriction on subject or depiction of character. We can raise any question we like.”

Her audience agreed with her. Navin Kumar, the head of a private computer-training centre, said: “The plays are very informative. They connect with us immediately. The questions the artistes raise through their performances are logical. In 20 minutes, they convey serious messages in an entertaining manner.”