Author: Minoti Chatterjee
Publisher: Indialog Publications
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 268
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8187981636
Description
Theatre in Bengal, one of the most dynamic and active institutions in contemporary India, has an intimate relationship with the people of Bengal. Bengal from 1905 to 1947, that is from Partition to Partition, saw great socio-political upsurges, streams of dominant political ideologies - the Moderates, the Extremists, the Revolutionary Terrorists, Communalism, the Gandhian era, and the resistant Left movement. Theater, situated in the eternally liminal space of culture, became the locus of the internal contestation between public and private, consequently turning into a sort of synecdochic representation of the emerging nation-space.
What was the role of theatre in shaping the socio-political movements of this time? How honestly was it serving the cause of Nationalism? How did theatre focus attention on issues, keeping certain events alive in the public memory? And how was it a means of understanding certain attitudes? This book intends to illustrate how political ideology found expression in theatre and how theatre in turn appropriated and informed ideology.
As Bengal was the center of the interaction, negotiation and conflict between the native and the British, its theatre experienced different spatial and consequently thematic and technical dislocations and relocations. The theories and practices of theatre underwent a change to the emergence of a conscious nation-space. This book studies the various aspects of the contemporary Bengali stage, with all its major and minor nuances, fame and notoriety, allegiances and importance. It covers the wide range of themes, innovations, and personalities that dominated the Bengali stage during this markedly important phase of the political and cultural history of Bengal.
Bengal from 1905 to 1947, that is from Partition to Partition, saw great socio-political upsurges. This book explores how Bengali theatre and the upsurges of Nationalist movements inform and appropriate each other during the turbulent era of 1905-1947. This book will be a good read for those interested in cultural studies, colonialism and post-colonialism, sociology and history.
As Bengal was the center of the interaction, negotiation and conflict between the native and the British, its theatre experienced different spatial and consequently thematic and technical dislocations and relocations. The theories and practices of theatre underwent a change to the emergence of a conscious nation-space. This book studies the various aspects of the contemporary Bengali stage, with all its major and minor nuances, fame and notoriety, allegiances and importance. It covers the wide range of themes, innovations, and personalities that dominated the Bengali stage during this markedly important phase of the political and cultural history of Bengal.
Contents
Introduction
The Nature of Bengali Theatre:
The Social and Economic Character
Swadeshi and Bengali Theatre:
1905-1912
Representtion in Theatre:
Bengal's Search for a Hero
New Political Agenda in 1930S
A Theatre of Politics:
Anger and Protest
Afterword
Glossary
Bibliography