Women and Theatre in South Asia (original) (raw)

A CRITICAL OVERVIEW OF THE EVOLUTION OF INDIAN THEATRE AND THE DEPICTION OF FEMINIST CONCERNS

Indian writers have written excellent prose, composed poems and written in English for more than a century, but it was not earlier than the thirties and forties that a suitable and systematic attempt was made to view their output as an independent literature and not a mere part of Anglo-Indian literature. It is, however, only after Independence that the volume of Indian writing in English has gone up considerably, and the need for its critical evaluation has become more urgent than ever before. When it comes to the early form of theatre, it featured various kinds of performances, often in the narrative form with singing, dancing, and reciting. The first significant contribution to Indian theatre was made by Bharata Muni, who authored the thirty-six books of "The Natyashastra". It is a theoretical description of theatrical performance, elucidating its style and motion. While the amateur movement gave way to the drama school theatre, towards the turn of the century, some existing active troupes turned into semi-professional drama schools with the help of amateurs. They continued to keep the theatre scene operative. Prayoga Ranga (Bangalore), Lokadharmi (Kochi) and Sopanam (Trivandrum) are examples of this trend. This article attempts to encapsulate the evolutional of Indian literary landscape with special emphasis on the evolution and growth of theatre and women playwrights. Traditionally women have never had, nor were allowed a voice of their own. "Because a woman has patience, she is not allowed to speak; And she never learns the words" is said by the narrator in the play Mangalam by Poile Sengupta. One of the major concerns of this study is to analyse a new trend in theatre-the Theatre of Protest and showcase its relevance in the plays of Poile Sengupta, one of the foremost contemporary Indian playwrights.

Women's Theater and the Redefinitions of Public, Private, and Politics in North India 1

A bstr act T his e ssay explore s the inte rse ctions be twe en pe rf ormanc e, ma te ria lity, a nd mar ginaliz e d women's struggles by de lving into the me anings of public a nd pr ivate , and the nua nc e d and var ied me anings of gende r ed r e sista nc e. Foc using on thre e ver y dif fe r ent kinds of the atric al pe rf or mance s by w omen in N orth I ndia , I a na lyz e how e ac h per f or ma nce a ppropriate s, c omplic ates, or r einf orc es the inter w oven pa tr iar cha l conce pts of public a nd priva te on the one ha nd, a nd f e mininity a nd ma sc ulinity on the other . In so doing, I also c onsider how both spa ce a nd kinship ar e str ate gica lly de ploye d in these per f or ma nce s, and the diff er e nt me anings of re sista nc e a nd fe minist politics e mbe dde d and implie d in ea c h per for ma nc e . I argue that a focus on these processes allows us to grapple with the ways in which gendered materialities -shaped by class, caste, and geographical locationbecome central to the articulation of politics. This framework opens up new "spaces" to examine how multiple publics are constituted and reconfigured in terms of their sociopolitical identities and provisional alliances in and through publicization/privatization struggles, without essentializing or fixing the meanings of either public or private or of the spaces in which public/private acts are enacted.

Women's theater and the redefinitions of public, private, and politics in North India

ACME: an international e-journal for critical …, 2002

Aesthetics of Indian Feminist Theatre

This study addresses a number of Indian feminist plays (both by men and women) that were written and performed in the last century and early years in this century. The paper focus specifically on Indian theatre because of its long established theatre tradition that goes back to 1 st century B.C. Ironically in such a country there were hardly any women dramatist to speak of before 19 th century. At the core, the belief of a Feminist theatre is in the efficacy of theatre as a tool for conscientization, for critiquing social disparities and for self exploration and expression. Feminist theatre is a source of empowerment; it enables women to speak out. It is at the intersection of art, activism and social relevance and sees theatre as an instrument of real change in women's lives. It is an exploration of women's own unique idiom, their own form, their language and ways of communication. It is a challenge to the established notions of theatre.

Not for Respectable Women: Attitudes Towards Theatre in Pakistan

Annals of Human and Social Sciences, 2022

Theatre, and the performing arts in general, though popular in some circles, are virtually nogo areas for regular vocation not only for the religious-minded, but also for those looking to gain or maintain social credibility in the general public in Pakistan. Actors/ performers are routinely denigrated as bhand (jesters, buffoons) and tawaif (prostitutes). What explains these attitudes towards the performing arts? This paper traces the colonial origins and development of the tabooing of performing arts for women, as it simultaneously historicises (Muslim) attitudes towards theatre in the country. Our primary argument is that while different theatrical practices have existed across the Islamic world, orthodox opinions denouncing dramatic performance have generally prevailed when they have been consolidated by the social exigencies of virtue, propriety and decency within the larger matrix of the family, and the place/ space accorded to women in the family. Islam, in this sense, is not the primary determinant in perspectives on the dramatic arts, even though it infuses attitudes towards them with distaste. In this respect, we demonstrate that the historically material performer-prostitute conflation is deeply entangled with South Asian assumptions about theatre, and becomes self-perpetuating in the case of Pakistan.

Women in the Indian Performance Tradition

2016

The Samyukta special issue on 'Women in Indian Performance' is a continuation of the research focusing on women in Asian performance which I started in 2013.. Being a performer and researcher on Kutiyattam from India, I am specifically interested in studying the contribution of women to Indian performance traditions and this special issue is the culmination of that ambition. The volume brings together eight essays and two interviews contributed by scholars from India, the United States and Italy. The contributions also cover a range of highly interesting topics, from the interview of Kalanidhi Narayanan about her initial years of training and career, to a critical review of Nirbhaya, a play on the Delhi gang rape written by Yael Farber in 2013. Essays and interviews this volume feature offers a radical reassessment of the place of women in Indian performances. What is the purpose of this special issue beyond the personal reasons listed above? Indian performance practice have been an active area of study among theatre scholars and practitioners all over the world for several decades, exerting substantial influence on the contemporary performance practices and actor-training methods. Nevertheless, critical debates and studies that aim at investigating and reassessing the role of women and their contribution to artistic practices in the Indian performance scene are relatively limited. Given the fact that Indian performances are broad and varied in number and style, such studies only marginally address the place and contribution of women in Indian performances. Critical work generating a more comprehensive view On women in Indian performances and mapping a broader territory in this relation is indeed necessary. Therefore, Samyukta special issue on 'Women in Indian performance is a novel attempt at initiating thoughts, generating scholarly work and critically reassessing the contribution of women in Indian performances. Complexities involved with assessing the place of women in Indian performances are manifold and I am attempting to simply map the territory. Academic essays and interviews published in this special issue aim to acknowledge the creative contributions of women practitioners in Indian performances. I genuinely hope that this volume will make significant contribution to the area of gender studies in India.

Women and Theatre in South Asia (original) (raw)

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