Snip from a BBC News story about the Indian folk theater form known as jatra, and current adaptations that deal with the bombings in London:
A month after four explosions killed more than 50 people in London, a folk theatre group in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta is putting finishing touches to a production based on the attacks. The play, London Burning, is a reinvention of jatra, a centuries-old travelling theatre tradition hugely popular in villages in the region.
Indian epics and mythological tales have traditionally been the staple fodder for jatra. Jatra usually consists of four-hour-long, high-energy plays featuring loud music, harsh lighting and extravagant props played out on giant stages under open skies.
But groups like the Digbijoy Opera – one of Calcutta's 55-odd jatra troupes – believe that plays based on "sensational breaking news" are now a bigger draw with rural audiences.
Link (Thanks, Tom Murphy)
