INTERPRETING THEATRE AS A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM

from his ideas given in another treatise written by him, the Rhetoric, which essentially deals with the

art of conversation. The model includes five essential elements of communication, i.e., the speaker,

the speech or message, the audience, the occasion and the effect. In the Rhetoric, Aristotle presents

his ideas on the art of speech construction by speakers for different audiences on different occasions

for producing different effects. However, it would not be out of place to assume that Aristotle's idea

was based on his personal experience of the Greek theatre and shaped by his observations on the

same. As it appears, the speaker that Aristotle talks of, in all likelihood, refers to the actor while the

occasion refers to the act of theatrical presentation. The remaining elements are important

components of any dramatic act, that is, the speech by the actor, the audience experiencing the act

and the effect produced in the minds of the audience.

While Aristotle's model does give us a basic idea on the communication process that apparently

takes place in our daily lives, it is found lacking in certain aspects of communication. Perhaps owing

to the fact that Aristotle was primarily addressing the subject of speech construction in the Rhetoric,

the importance of non-verbal communication in any act of communication seems to have been

completely overlooked by him. This aspect of non-verbal communication has been comprehensively

discussed and addressed in Bharata's Nātyasāstra. Having said so, Bharata does not undermine the

importance of speech in communication. Thus says Bharata, "One should take care of words - In

this world, the Śāstras are made up of words and rest on words; hence there is nothing beyond

words, and words are the source of everything. The Verbal representation is related to [a knowledge

of] nouns (nāma), verbs (ākhyta), particle (nipāta), preposition (upasarga), nominal suffix

(taddhita), compound words (samāsa), euphonic combination (sandhi) and case-endings (vibhakti)."

(Ghosh, 1950) Speech, Bharata, terms as vācika. However, Bharata takes note of the other aspects as

well that play a vital role in deciding the outcome of any communication endeavour. These include:

1. Physical representation (Angikā)

2. Costumes and make-up (Āharya)

3. Temperament (Sattva)

9

Thus, Bharata emphasizes on approaching communication in a four-fold manner of expression

comprising of vācika, angikā, sattva and āharya. While Bharata postulates the four-fold principle of

communication primarily in parlance of drama, it would not be out of place to assume that Bharata

also had in his mind the universe while laying down the tenets. As Bharata ascribes the following

words to Lord Brahma, "The drama as I have devised, is a mimicry of actions and conducts of

people, which is rich in various emotions, and which depicts different situations." Besides, this fourfold

approach is indeed, a more, practical and hands on approach towards analysing and decoding the

process of communication.

Communication, after all, is not merely about expression of either words or actions. Rather, it

incorporates all the aspects of human expression that can play an effective part on conveying the

ultimate meaning to the recipient of the information. The absence or disproportionate representation

of any one of the given aspects necessarily results in confusion in the minds of the audience and that

is what gives rise to the feeling of absurdity. No wonder then, the Indian approach to communication

is referred to as sādhāranikarana which essentially means establishing a feeling of uniformity

between the participants involved in an act of communication. This, in turn, can be achieved only

when commonness is attained at the various intermediary levels of human interaction between the

communicator and the communicated through their respective abilities. It is this feeling of

commonness and uniformity that is the driving force of communication in this universe. The theatre

being a miniature representation of the same is no different.

References

1. Andal, N. (2004). Communication Theories and Models. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House.

2. Ghosh, M. (1950). The Natya Shastra (English Translation) Volume I (Chapters I-XXVII).

Calcutta: The Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.

3. Kasoma, K. (1974). Theatre And Development. Retrieved September 2013, from http://www.cfhst.

net: http://www.cf-hst.net/unicef-temp/Doc-Repository/doc/doc479081.PDF

4. Kumar, H. (2006). Folk Media and Rural Development. Retrieved September 2013, from

http://www.satishserial.com: http://www.satishserial.com/issn0972-9348/finaljournal09.pdf

5. Kumar, S. (2012). Role of Folk Media in Nation Building. Retrieved September 2013, from

http://www.voiceofresearch.org: http://www.voiceofresearch.org/doc/v1_i2/v1_i2_16.pdf

6. Mukhopadhyay, K. (1999). Theatre and Politics. Calcutta: Bibhasa.

7. Pandya, S. P. (1990). A Study of The Technique of Abhinaya in Relation to Sanskrit Drama.

Bombay: Somaiya Publications Pvt. Ltd.

10

8. Ramamurti, K. S. (1964). Drama: The Finest Form of Literary Creation. Rupaka Samiksa (pp.

17-22). Tirupati: Sri Venkateshwara University.

9. Richmond, F. (1973, October). The Political Role of Theatre in India. Retrieved September 2013,

from http://www.yavanika.org: http://www.yavanika.org/classes/reader/richmond.pdf

10. Singh, A. (2004). Humanising Education: Theatre in Pedagogy. Retrieved September 2013, from

http://ced.sagepub.com: http://ced.sagepub.com/content/2/1/53.full.pdf

11. Vir Bala Aggarwal, V. S. (2002). Handbook of Journalism and Mass Communication. New

Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.

12. Warritay, B. (1988). Communication Development and Theatre Use in Africa. Retrieved

September 2013, from http://archive.lib.msu.edu:

http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/africa%20media%20review/vol2no3/j

amr002003008.pdf

13. Xiaoli Nan, R. J. ( .(2004Advertising theory: Reconceptualizing the building blocks. Retrieved

September 2013, from http://www.uk.sagepub.com:

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/chaston/Chaston%20Web%20readings%20chapters%201-

12/Chapter%209%20-%207%20Nan%20and%20Faber.pdf

i

i The authors have chosen to insert in their work relevant extracts or quotations by individuals and

authorities with due attributions instead of trying to express the ideas in their own words