A POETICS OF MODERNITY

Description

The urban theatre which emerged under Anglo-European and local influences in colonial metropolises such as Calcutta and Bombay around the mid-nineteenth century marked the beginning of the ‘modern period’ in Indian theatre, distinct from classical, postclassical, and more proximate precolonial traditions. A Poetics of Modernity offers a unique selection of original, theoretically significant writings on theatre by playwrights, directors, actors, designers, activists, and policy–makers, to explore the full range of discursive positions that make these urban practitioners ‘modern’. The source-texts represent nine languages, including English, and about one-third of them have been translated into English for the first time; the volume thus retrieves a multilingual archive that so far had remained scattered in print and manuscript sources around the country. A comprehensive introduction by Dharwadker argues for historically precise definitions of theatrical modernity, outlines some of its constitutive features, and connects it to the foundational theoretical principles of urban theatre practice in modern India.

About the Editor

Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker is professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and author of Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India Since 1947 (2005), which won the Joe A. Callaway Prize in 2006.

Table of contents

"The entry for each primary source specifies the language in which it was originally written, and the date of original composition and/or translation. Material translated into English for the first time specifically for inclusion in this volume is indicated by an asterisk, and the date in parentheses is of composition in the original language.


Acknowledgements
Editor’s Note
List of Abbreviations
Glossary of Terms
General Introduction
Bibliography

TARA CHARAN SHIKDAR (active 1850s)
*Preface to Bhadrarjuna (Subhadra and Arjun; Bengali, 1852)
SYED AGHA HASAN AMANAT (1815–1858)
‘The Reasons for the Composition of the Book
Indar-sabha’ (The Court of Indar; Urdu, 1854; English trans. 2007)

MICHAEL MADHUSUDAN DUTT (1824–1873)
Advertisement to Translation of Ratnavali (English, 1858)
Preface to Sermista (English, 1859)
From Letters (English, 1856-1860)

DINABANDHU MITRA (1830–1873)
Preface to Neel-durpan (The Indigo Mirror; English, 1860)

SRI PU _________
*‘Acting for the Theatre’ (Bengali, 1875)


GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Text of the Dramatic Performances Control Act
(English, 1876)

ANONYMOUS
*‘Prostitutes in Playhouses’ (Bengali, 1877)

GIRISH CHANDRA GHOSH (1844–1912)
*From ‘The Art of the Bahurupi’ (Bengali, 1910)

VISHNUSHASTRI CHIPLUNKAR (1850–1882)
*From ‘Should Plays be Performed or Not?’
(Marathi, 1881)

BHARATENDU HARISHCHANDRA (1850–1885)
*From ‘ Natak ’ (Drama; Hindi, 1883)

RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1861–1941)
‘The Theatre’ (Bengali, 1903; English trans. 2001)
Preface to Raja o rani (King and Queen; Bengali, 1889;English trans., 1937)
‘ Red Oleanders : Author’s Interpretation’
(English, pub. 2007)

BINODINI DASI (1862–1941)
From My Story (Bengali, 1912; English trans. 2018)

GURAJADA VENKATA APPARAO (1862–1915)
Preface to 1st Edition of Kanyasulkam (Girls for Sale,
English, 1898)
Preface to 2nd Edition of Kanyasulkam (English, 1909)

S. K. KOLHATKAR (1871–1934)
*From ‘Women and the Theatre’ (Marathi, pub. 1972)

KRISHNAJI PRABHAKAR KHADILKAR (1872–1948)
*From ‘Preface to the Inaugural Issue of Rangabhumi ’ ,(Marathi, 1907)

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES FROM THE COMMERCIAL
THEATRE (1929–1982)
From Narayan Prasad ‘Betab’, The Deeds of Betab
(Hindi, 1929; English trans., 2011)
From Radheshyam Kathavachak, My Theatre Days
(Hindi, 1932; English trans., 2011)
From Jaishankar Sundari, Some Blossoms, Some Tears
(Gujarati, 1976; English trans., 2011)
From Fida Husain, Fifty Years in the Parsi Theatre
(Hindi, 1982; English trans., 2011)

PAMMALA SAMBANDA MUDALIYAR (1873–1964)
From Over Forty Years Before the Footlights
(Tamil, 1932-1938; English trans., 1996)

MUNSHI PREMCHAND (1880–1936)
*Preface to Karbala (Hindi, 1924)
From ‘The Nature and Purpose of Literature’
(Hindi, 1936; English trans., 1986)

BELLARY RAGHAVA (1880–1946)
From ‘Th e Role of an Actor’ (Telugu, 1940s; English trans., 1940s)

BHARGAVARAM VITHTHAL (‘MAMA’)
VARERKAR (1883–1964)
*Preface to Satteche gulam (Slaves to Entitlement;Marathi, 1944)

JAISHANKAR PRASAD (1889–1937)
*From ‘The Place of Drama in Hindi’ (Hindi, 1923)
*From ‘The Stage’ (Hindi, 1936)

SISIR KUMAR BHADURI (1889–1959)
*‘The Form of National Drama’ (Bengali, pub. 1957)


THE INDIAN PEOPLE’S THEATRE ASSOCIATION
(1943)
From ‘The First Bulletin and Draft Resolution of the
Indian People’s Theatre Association’ (English, 1943)

BIJON BHATTACHARYA (1917–1978)
*From Preface to Nabanna (New Harvest; Bengali, 1962)

KAMALADEVI CHATTOPADHYAY (1903–1988)
From Towards a National Theatre (English, 1945)

MULK RAJ ANAND (1905–2004)
From ‘Indian Theatre in the Context of World Theatre’
(English, 1956)

SOMBHU MITRA (1915–1997)
From ‘Amateur Theatre in India’ (English, 1956)

ADYA RANGACHARYA (1904–1984)
From ‘Towards A Professional Theatre’ (English, 1968)
V. K. NARAYANA MENON (1911–1997)
From ‘Radio Drama’ (English, 1959)

THOPPIL BHASI (1924–1992)
Introduction to Memories in Hiding (Malayalam, 1992;English trans., 1996)

RITWIK GHATAK (1925–1976)
From ‘My Coming into Films’ (English, pub. 1987)
From ‘On My Own Way’ (Bengali, 1962; English trans., 2003)
From ‘I Often Created Trouble But Did Not Harm
Anyone’ (Bengali, 1976; English trans., 2003)

HABIB TANVIR (1923–2009)
From ‘Waiting for the Playwright’ (English, 1962)
From ‘The Indian Experiment’ (English, 1977)

MOHAN RAKESH (1925–1972)
Prefaces to First and Second Editions of Ashadh ka ek din
(One Day in the Season of Rain; Hindi, 1958;
English trans., 2014)


Preface to Laharon ke rajhans (The Royal Swans of the
Waves; Hindi, 1963; English trans., 2014)
*‘The Playwright and the Stage’ (Hindi, 1966)

DHARAMVIR BHARATI (1926–1997)
*Preface to Andha yug ( Hindi, 1954)
*From ‘Hindi Playwriting: Some Problems’
(Hindi, pub. 1998)
UTPAL DUTT (1929–1993)
From ‘Theatre as a Weapon’ (English, 1971)
From Towards a Revolutionary Theatre (English, 1982)

TAPAS SEN (1924–2006)
*From ‘A Tale of Three Cities’ (Bengali, 2000)

P. L. DESHPANDE (1919–2000)
From ‘On Translations and Adaptations’ (English, 1979)

VIJAY TENDULKAR (1928–2008)
From The Play is the Thing (English, 1997)
From ‘A Testament’ (English, 1992)

BADAL SIRCAR (1925–2011)
From The Third Theatre (English, 1978)
From ‘Buying and Selling in the Theatre’
(Bengali, 1978; English trans., 2009)

EBRAHIM ALKAZI (b. 1925)
From ‘Ebrahim Alkazi: Interview’ (English, 1975)

K. V. SUBBANNA (1932–2005)
From ‘Ninasam: The Springs of Inspiration’
(Kannada, 1995; English trans., 2009)

VIJAYA MEHTA (b. 1934)
From ‘Vijaya Mehta’ (Interview with Shanta Gokhale;
English, 1989)
SATYADEV DUBEY (1936–2011)
From ‘Contemporary Indian Plays’ (English, 1971)
From Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-year Journey Through Theatre (English, 2011)

K. N. PANIKKAR (1928–2016)
From ‘The Alphabets of Theatre’ (English, 2010)

INDIRA PARTHASARATHY (b. 1930)
Preface to Ramanujar (English, 2008)

GIRISH KARNAD (b. 1938)
From ‘In Search of a New Theatre’ (English, 1985)
From ‘Theatre in India’ (English, 1989)

CHANDRASHEKHAR KAMBAR (b. 1937)
‘Folk Theatre as I See It’ (English, 1989)
From ‘Alienation and Theatre’ (English, 1998)
‘From Traditional Theatre to Total Theatre’
(English, 1985)

B. V. KARANTH (1929–2002)
From Here, I Cannot Stay; There, I Cannot Go (Kannada,1998–2002; English trans., 2012)

G. P. DESHPANDE (1938–2013)
From Preface to Political Plays (English, 1998)

MAHESH ELKUNCHWAR (b. 1939)
*From ‘My Theatre Journey Upto the Present’
(Marathi, 1985)
SURESH AWASTHI (1918–2004)
From ‘In Defence of the Theatre of Roots’ (English, 1985)

NEMICHANDRA JAIN (1917–2005)
From ‘Some Notes on the Use of Tradition in Theatre’
(English, 1985)

DATTA BHAGAT (b. 1945)
*From ‘Dalit Consciousness and Dalit Theatre in
Marathi’(Marathi, 1974; Hindi trans., 2015)

SATISH ALEKAR (b. 1949)
From ‘Interview with Samik Bandyopadhyay’
(English, 2008) From ‘The Playwright in Conversation’ (Marathi, date unknown; English trans., 2003)

ASGHAR WAJAHAT (b. 1946)
*‘Jis Lahore nai dekhya o jamyai nai: A Twenty Year
Journey’ (Hindi, 2009)

LOKENDRA ARAMBAM (b. 1939)
From ‘Experimental Theatre in Manipur: At a
Critical Juncture’ (English, 1997)

HEISNAM KANHAILAL (1941–2016)
From ‘Theatre is Only a Link Between Heritage and
Community’ (English, 1997)

RATAN THIYAM (b. 1948)
From ‘The Audience is Inside Me’ (English, 1997)

MAHESH DATTANI (b. 1958)
From Preface to Collected Plays (English, 2005)
‘Contemporary Indian Theatre and Its Relevance’
(English, 2002)

RUSTOM BHARUCHA (b. 1953)
‘Anatomy of Official Cultural Discourse:
A Non-Government Perspective’ (English, 1992)

SAFDAR HASHMI (1954–1989)
From ‘The First Ten Years of Street Theatre’
(English, 1989)

SUDHANVA DESHPANDE (b. 1967)
From ‘The “Inexhaustible Work of Criticism in
Action”: Street Theatre of the Left’ (English, 1997)

AMAL ALLANA (b. 1947)

From ‘Gender Relations and Self-Identity: A Personal
Encounter’ (English, 2002)
From ‘The Act of Becoming’ (English, 2014)

KIRTI JAIN (b. 1949)
From ‘Different Concerns, Striking Similarities’
(English, 2001)

A. MANGAI (b. 1959)
From ‘Cultural Intervention Through Theatre: Case
Study of a Play on Female Infanticide/Foeticide’
(English, 1998)

ANURADHA KAPUR (b. 1951)
From ‘A Wandering Word, An Unstable Subject’
(English, 2001)

NEELAM MANSINGH CHOWDHRY (b. 1951)
From ‘Ceremony as Dramatic Text’ (English, 2012)

Index of Names

Index of Subjects

About the Editor