Postdramatic Theatre and India
Theatre-Making Since the 1990s
Published on 27. July 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
216 pages
978-1-350-28439-5 (ISBN)
Description
None of the Indian theatre-makers consciously built their works on the Euro-American model of the postdramatic, but many have used the theatre model in innovative, transnational ways. Essentially, they have adapted an originally European theatre paradigm to a different historical context and added new dimensions to it by cross-pollinating it with indigenous cultural forms.
The main aim in doing so has been to invigorate the language of Indian urban theatre that had turned stale under the stronghold of realism growing out of colonial stage practice and homogeneous under the decolonizing drive of the 'theatre of roots' movement post-independence.
Theatre in India today is rich in cross-media performance, theatre solos and monologues, pure spatial experience, plurimedial work, durational reading, real-time action, and so on.
The book balances theory, contextualisation and praxis, building a hitherto non-existing archive of scholarship in Indian theatre within a postdramatic framework, and an argument for its place within contemporary Indian theatre. Interspersed throughout are Indian theatre-makers' opinions about their contemporary performance theory and practices vis-a-vis those in Europe and the US.
The main aim in doing so has been to invigorate the language of Indian urban theatre that had turned stale under the stronghold of realism growing out of colonial stage practice and homogeneous under the decolonizing drive of the 'theatre of roots' movement post-independence.
Theatre in India today is rich in cross-media performance, theatre solos and monologues, pure spatial experience, plurimedial work, durational reading, real-time action, and so on.
The book balances theory, contextualisation and praxis, building a hitherto non-existing archive of scholarship in Indian theatre within a postdramatic framework, and an argument for its place within contemporary Indian theatre. Interspersed throughout are Indian theatre-makers' opinions about their contemporary performance theory and practices vis-a-vis those in Europe and the US.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
276 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-28439-5 (9781350284395)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
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01/2022
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€32.99
Available for download
E-Book
01/2022
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€32.99
Available for download
Person
Ashis Sengupta is Professor of English at the University of North Bengal. A recipient of Fulbright visiting scholarship (2006), he has published widely on South Asian and American theatre. His most recent publications include two edited books: Mapping South Asia through Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) and a play anthology, Islam in Performance (Bloomsbury, 2017).
Content
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Hans-Thies Lehmann and Since: Postdramatic Theatre and Performance Today
Contexts / Countertexts / The dramatic-postdramatic 'binary' / Passage towards the postdramatic / Presence / Mimesis, mediation, remediation / Postdramatic and the political / Return to the narrative and text / Performer-spectator relationship / Affect in postdramatic theatre / Postdramatic and the transnational
2. Theorizing and Contextualizing India's Postdramatic
Adaptation as contribution / Theatre-makers of India: opinions and practice / India's 'postdramatic' / Occasions and contexts (Autonomous women's movement; Cold war, globalization, theatre practice; Cultural exchange, intercultural engagements, training, influences; Theatre festivals, pedagogy, entrepreneurship) / Theatre-making in India (1990-present): a summing-up.
3. The Postdramatic Turn in Indian Theatre
Early adaptations / Early devised theatre
4. India's Postdramatic I
'Telling Stories across Forms' / Politics-as-Material / Theatre of Scenography
5. India's Postdramatic II
Monologues and Theatre Solos
6. India's Postdramatic III
Theatre of Speech / Theatre-as-Event / Reality Theatre / Theatre-as-Installation
7. New Directions
Bibliography
Index
ViewRelated Title Changes
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Hans-Thies Lehmann and Since: Postdramatic Theatre and Performance Today
Contexts / Countertexts / The dramatic-postdramatic 'binary' / Passage towards the postdramatic / Presence / Mimesis, mediation, remediation / Postdramatic and the political / Return to the narrative and text / Performer-spectator relationship / Affect in postdramatic theatre / Postdramatic and the transnational
2. Theorizing and Contextualizing India's Postdramatic
Adaptation as contribution / Theatre-makers of India: opinions and practice / India's 'postdramatic' / Occasions and contexts (Autonomous women's movement; Cold war, globalization, theatre practice; Cultural exchange, intercultural engagements, training, influences; Theatre festivals, pedagogy, entrepreneurship) / Theatre-making in India (1990-present): a summing-up.
3. The Postdramatic Turn in Indian Theatre
Early adaptations / Early devised theatre
4. India's Postdramatic I
'Telling Stories across Forms' / Politics-as-Material / Theatre of Scenography
5. India's Postdramatic II
Monologues and Theatre Solos
6. India's Postdramatic III
Theatre of Speech / Theatre-as-Event / Reality Theatre / Theatre-as-Installation
7. New Directions
Bibliography
Index
ViewRelated Title Changes