Author: Erin B Mee
Editor(s): Erin B Mee
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 361
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0 195664299
Description
India has one of the world’s richest theater traditions. In DramaContemporary: India, Erin Mee gathers six modern plays from across the country that demonstrate the vitality of Indian theater today. This volume focuses specifically on contemporary plays written in the last five to fourteen years.
Written from different perspective and in different styles, each of the plays addresses issues facing modern India. Both Girish Karnad’s the fire and the rain and K N Panikkar’s Aramba Chekkan belong to the theater of roots movement. Usha Ganguli’s Rudali is linked to the women’s theater movement, and The Wooden Cart by Tripurari Sharma, though not a street theater piece, comes out of that tradition. Routes and Escape Routes by Datta Bhagat belongs to the Dalit Sahitya (literature of the oppressed) genre. Mahesh Dattani’s Tara, a movement, challenges the Anglo- Indian literary tradition.
This volume will introduce readers to the country’s rich and varied theatrical culture, and highlight some of the extremely talented playwrights they might not already know.
REVIEW
This important anthology presents key works by some of India’s leading playwrights –artists who fuse modernity with tradition. Reading this book will show why today’s Indian theatre is among the world’s most active, exciting, and important. The translations are excellent, as is Erin Mee’s illuminating introduction. These dramas demand to be read, studied, and staged.
-Richard Schechner, New York University
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
A Note On Translation
The Fire and the Rain
By Girish Karnad, translated by the author
Aramba Chekkan
By Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, translated by the author and Erin B Mee
Rudali
By Usha Ganguli, translated by Anjum Katyal
The Wooden Cart
By Tripurari Sharma, translated by Mohit Satyanand
Tara
By Mahesh Dattani
Routes and Escape Routes
By Datta Bhagat, translated by Maya Pandit
Glossary
Notes on Contributors