Recasting ‘Joymoti’: in search of travelling female performers of mobile theatre in Assam

Abstract The emergence of female performers in the public sphere from the early twentieth century changed the contours of performance arts in colonial Assam. By studying the lived experiences of female performers in conjunction with their portrayals on-screen and on-stage, questions of mobility and agency are explored with a focus on Aideu Handique, the first heroine of Assamese cinema, along with women performers from selected mobile theatre groups. This article traces the shifts and continuities in the representations of the eponymous female protagonist in the first Assamese talkie, Joymoti (1935) by Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, and the recent stage adaptation, Awahan Theatre’s Joymoti (2021–2022). While mediated images popularised an idea of womanhood that travelled from the colonial to the contemporary stage, the mobility of the female performer enacting the role in the colonial context was severely restricted. Using feminist ethnography, oral history, and archival materials, this article brings the subjective narratives of the travelling female performers to the fore. It reveals the power hierarchies that exist between male and female performers—for instance, how gender affects decision-making processes as well as the modes and destinations of travel—thus highlighting the politics of mobility.