양주별산대놀이는 1964년 12월 국가 지정의 중요무형문화재 제2호로 지정되었고, 현재까지 비교적 활발하게 전승되고 있는 편이다. 그러나 예전의 연희와 현재의 연희는 일치하는 면도 많지만, 변화된 내용도 상당한 것으로 나타난다. 연희 내용에서 현재는 예전에 비해 연희의 즉흥성과 흥이 부족하고, 연기력이 떨어지는 것으로 나타난다. 현재의 연희에서는 성(性)과 관련된 노골적인 부분을 생략하고 있다. 그리고 신할아비·미얄할미과장에서 할미의 죽음 후에 벌어지는 연희도 변화를 보이고 있다. 예전에는 할미의 죽음 후에 신할아비가 넋타령을 했는데, 최근에는 그것이 빠지고 대신에 무당굿을 한다 대사의 변화는 대사 전달방식의 변화와 대사 내용의 변화로 나타난다. 예전에는 억양과 장단을 잘 살려 대사를 전달했는데, 요즘은 그것이 잘 되지 않고 있으며, 대사나 불림이 빨라졌다. 요즘 공연에서는 연희자에 따라 공연 현장에서 즉흥적인 대사를 많이 구사하는 면이 있는데, 이를 통해 대사의 변화가 생긴다. 특히 대사에서 가장 많은 변화를 보이는 것은 욕설과 육담이다. 춤사위의 동작은 옛날과 같지만, 지금의 춤은 예전보다 좀 빨라졌고, 예전 연희자들처럼 몸에 배인 멋진 춤사위를 구사하지 못하고 있다. 가면의 모습이 차이를 보이는 것은 육이오 후에 가면을 제작할 때, 그 복원에 있어서 일부 고증이 부족했고, 가면의 제작에 사용되는 재료가 변했기 때문이다. 일제시대까지만 해도 유양리는 큰 마을이었고, 이 지역의 시장을 활성화시키기 위해 난장을 텄고, 난장 때에는 소리꾼·줄타기꾼이 외부로부터 초청되고 씨름도 했다. 그러나 해방 이후 별산대놀이는 이 지역 사회에서 특별한 기능을 갖지 못했던 것으로 나타난다. 최근에는 현지 주민들도 많이 찾아오고, 정기발표공연이 있을 때는 양주군의 각 읍면 청년회와 양주로터리클럽 등에서 지원해 준다. 그리고 양주별산대놀이에 대한 인식도 많이 변하고 있는 것으로 나타난다.

Yangju byeolsandaenori was designated as no.2 of important intangible cultural property by the government in December, 1964 and is actively being performed until now. However, the previous play has an aspect to accord with the present play, but its contents have been a lot changed. Compared with the contents of the previous play, those of the present are lacking in the improvision and mirth and performers lacks of the performing skills. In the present play, several scenes regarding the blunt sexual parts such as the sexual acts between chuibari, a roving and flirtatious bachelor and somu, a young female, a homosexual love of a shoe salesman's monkey, and a raping motion on an axe's sister were omitted. In the act of grandpa shin and grandma miyal, the play performed after the death of grandma miyal has been differently performed. In the previous play, grandpa shin conducted utterances of a shaman given as those of a deceased spirit after grandma miyal died and today, a shamanistic ritual is being performed instead of grandpa' scene. The change of performers' lines is converted to that of transmitting method and contents of their lines. In the past, performers delivered their lines with accents and tunes, but nowadays, this wasn't represented and their lines become fast. In the performance today, performers speak the improvised words on the stage, which makes their lines to be changed. In particular, the most change in their lines is snide remarks and vulgar talks. The movement of dance is same as that of past and the present dance is faster than the previous one. The performers today can't display beautiful dance movements accustomed to their body as the performers did in the past. The time used in music of byeolsandaenori is yeongsanhoisang, ginyeombul, yeombul, taryeong, jajin-taryeong, and gutgeori. The present time appears to be slightly faster than the previous one. Masks of this play are those collected in 1929, and owned by Seoul National University, those owned by Seonggyungwan University, which were used in 1950s, and those being used in the present performance. The difference of mask shapes shows on ground that the masks were reproduced without a whole historical evidence and the material of masks was changed when they were manufactured after the Korean war. The early performers in Yangju byeolsandaenori appear to be the lower class men of all works working in the government office. Later on, performers comprised non-professional half farmers and half artists. They were a lot of petty officials of provincial town and shamans' husbands. The noteworthy thing in the genealogy of performers is that fathers transmitted the play to their sons. Yangju belongs to the area of the hereditary shamans and among musicians, shamans' husbands took charge of playing the important musical instruments. Yuyangni was a big village during the Japanese colonial rule and a variety of performance was held to activate the markets of this region. In the performance, singers and performers walking on the tightrope were invited from other places and traditional wrestling was also played. After the liberation of Korea in 1945, the play didn't act any more important role in this region. Recently, the residents in this region join the performance and when the regular performance is held, it is supported by the young men's association in counties and Yangju Rotary Club. It appears that the residents changed their understanding on the Yangju byeosandaenori.