Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 PDF
Preview Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947
Theatres of Independence Studies in Theatre History and Culture edited by Thomas Postlewait Theatres of Independence Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947 # Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker university of iowa press, iowa city University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242 http://www.uiowa.edu/uiowapress Copyright © 2005 by the University of Iowa Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Design by Neil West, BN Typographics West No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it has not been possible to reach. The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is committed to preserving natural resources. Printed on acid-free paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava, 1955–. Theatres of independence: drama, theory, and urban performance in India since 1947 / by Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker. p. cm.—(Studies in theatre history and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn0-87745-961-4 (cloth) 1. Theater—India—History—20th century. 2. Theater and society—India—History—20th century. 3. Indic drama—20th century—History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series. pn2884.d49 2005 792´.0954´09045—dc22 2005043936 05 06 07 08 09 c 5 4 3 2 1 For Vinay, Aneesha, and Sachin Part of the world persists distinct from what we say, but part will stay only if we keep talking: only speech can re-create the gardens of the world. contents acknowledgments ix author’s note xv abbreviations xix 1. Postcolonial Frames and the Subject of Modern Indian Theatre 1 part i The Field of Indian Theatre after Independence 2. The Formation of a New “National Canon” 21 3. Authorship, Textuality, and Multilingualism 54 4. Production and Reception: Directors, Audiences, and the Mass Media 85 5. Orientalism, Cultural Nationalism, and the Erasure of the Present 127 part ii Genres in Context: Theory, Play, and Performance 6. Myth, Ambivalence, and Evil 165 viii Genres in Context 7. The Ironic History of the Nation 218 8. Realism and the Edicce of Home 268 9. Alternative Stages: Antirealism, Gender, and Contemporary “Folk” Theatre 310 10. Intertexts and Countertexts 352 appendixes 1. The Program of the Nehru Shatabdi Natya Samaroh (Nehru Centenary Theatre Festival), New Delhi, 3–17 September 1989 391 2. Major Indian Playwrights and Plays, 1950–2004 392 3. Major Indian Theatre Directors, 1950–2004 397 4. Key Productions of Some Major Post-Independence Plays 399 5. Productions, Mainly in Hindi, by Three Contemporary Directors 403 6. Productions by Ten Contemporary Directors and Theatre Groups 407 7. Modern Urban Transmissions of the Mahabharata: The Principal Genres 418 8. The Euro-American Intertexts of Post-Independence Drama and Theatre 420 9. Prose Narratives on the Stage 434 10. Brecht Intertexts in Post-Independence Indian Theatre 436 notes 439 bibliography 449 index 463 acknowledgments The idea for this book took shape in 1996 and 1997, following a period during which my postdoctoral work in Restoration and early eighteenth- century British theatre made way rather unexpectedly for several proj- ects in contemporary Indian and postcolonial theatre. I would crst like to thank the colleagues whose invitations to speak and write about the new drama in India led to what was, in retrospect, a necessary and in- evitable expansion of critical horizons: C. M. Naim and Loren Kruger at the University of Chicago, Franklin Southworth at the University of Pennsylvania, and Ann Wilson at the University of Guelph. The panel on “Diaspora and Theatre” arranged by the Division on Drama at the 1996 MLAconvention crst led me to think extensively about Indian-language theatre in relation to modern Western drama, postcolonial studies, and diasporic cultural forms. For the opportunity to participate in that forum, I am grateful to Sandra Richards and Joseph Roach. Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Institute of Indian Studies in 1998 allowed me to spend four crucial months in India during the initial stages of the study and to grasp fully the scope of the work I had begun. This book would not have been pos- sible without the assistance of these institutions. I owe additional thanks to C. M. Naim, Ann Wilson, and Joan Erdman for writing in support of my proposals. Sabbatical leave at the University of Oklahoma in fall 1999, and summer research awards from the University of Wisconsin– Madison Graduate School in 2002 and 2003, enabled me to continue and conclude the project. ix
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