ABSTRACT
Theatre developed from shamanism, ritual, play and storytelling. From its beginnings drama was a healing art. Many of the tricks of theatre illusion were developed by the shamans: ventriloquism for example enabled the shamans to simulate the voices of spirits in dramatic seances; masks and puppets enabled them to present the spirits who spoke to the people of other levels of reality. During rituals in ecstatic religions, the ululations and speaking in tongues of ordinary members of the congregation or the possession of mediums (such as in Voodoo or western spiritualism) enable the members of the cult to hear the spirits’ voices. In many myths and stories the voice of a god, spirit or magical object has a crucial role (such as the voice of the mirror in Snow White).
