Abstract
Communication as a social tool includes a wide range of functions such as instruction, persuasion,
education, entertainment, development and so on. Over the ages, all the communication mediums
have evolved themselves to accommodate the various functions of communication and this is true of
the theatre as well. This paper is a humble endeavour towards interpreting the theatre as a
communication medium that can significantly contribute towards ably performing the various
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communication functions. It also seeks to deliberate upon the need for approaching the study of
communication in the Indian perspective drawing comparisons between Aristotle’s Poetics and
Rhetoric and Bharata’s Nātyasāstra.
Key Words: Theatre, Communication, Nātyasāstra, Poetics, Rhetoric
Introduction
“In a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a
stranger. His is an irremediable exile…. This divorce between man and his life,
the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity.”
– Albert Camus
Thus writes Albert Camus in his seminal work, “The Myth of Sisyphus”. However, the universe that
Camus talks of is representative not only of one physical world as a whole but a number of small