Academic literature on the topic 'Contemporary Bengali Theatre'
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Journal articles on the topic "Contemporary Bengali Theatre"
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Bhuyan, Abul Basher MD Ziaul Haque. "The synthesis of tradition in contemporary theatre of Bangladesh: “The theatre of roots”." ТЕАТР. ЖИВОПИСЬ. КИНО. МУЗЫКА, no. 4 (2022): 84–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.35852/2588-0144-2022-4-84-104.
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The article examines how the Eastern traditional theatre responded to the Western theatre in the context of the British colonial regime in the Indian subcontinent. From this point of view, the dialogue between cultures was practically not considered. Hence, this study is devoted to understanding the synthesis of European theatre and traditional theatre, which began to be considered a rural art form by the early twentieth century, meaning something simple or low. In contrast, urban theatre of the European type was perceived as something refined or high. Rabindranath Tagore had not been fully successful in synthesizing heterogeneous theatrical traditions in his lyrical plays. The Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), an all-India organization of progressive writers-artists-activists, was established in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1943, played a significant role in creating the new cultural expression in the map of colonial Bengali theatre. Also, after obtaining independence in 1971, the theatre artists of Bangladesh sought a new language of performance in the urban theater, which would embody the people’s lives, hopes, and dreams. Eventually, the national cultural movement emerged in the decade of 90s in the last century. The movement was called the “Theatre of Roots”, which attempted to synthesize the traditional elements with the Western forms and enjoyed great popularity. Therefore, the article analyzes the play Wheel by Selim Al Deen, directed by Syed Jamil Ahmed, the most significant examples of the “Theatre of Roots” movement. In the study of this production, an analysis of the artistic process of synthesis of traditions in the modern urban theatre of Bangladesh is carried out.
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Silva, Neluka. "Women, culture and nation-building: Contemporary Sinhalese and Bengali theatre." Contemporary South Asia 9, no. 3 (November 2000): 339–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713658751.
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Dutta Gupta, Aabrita. "Crossings with Jatra: Bengali Folk-theatre Elements in a Transcultural Representation of Lady Macbeth." Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance 23, no. 38 (June 30, 2021): 91–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.23.06.
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This paper examines a transcultural dance-theatre focusing on Lady Macbeth, through the lens of eastern Indian Bengali folk-theatre tradition, jatra. The wide range of experimentation with Shakespeare notwithstanding, the idea of an all-female representation is often considered a travesty. Only a few such explorations have earned recognition in contemporary times. One such is the Indian theatre-dance production Crossings: Exploring the facets of Lady Macbeth by Vikram Iyenger, first performed in 2004. Four women representing four facets of Lady Macbeth explore the layered nuances that constitute her through the medium of Indian classical dance and music juxtaposed with Shakespearean dialogues from Macbeth. This paper will argue the possibilities posited by this transgressive re-reading of a major Shakespearean tragedy by concentrating on a possible understanding through a Hindu religious sect —Vaishnavism, as embodied through the medium of jatra. To form a radically new stage narrative in order to bring into focus the dilemma and claustrophobia of Lady Macbeth is perhaps the beginning of a new generation of Shakespeare explorations. Iyenger’s production not only dramatizes the tragedy of Lady Macbeth through folk dramatic tradition, dance and music, but also Indianises it with associations drawn from Indian mythological women like Putana (demoness) and Shakti (sacred feminine).
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Gooptu, Sarvani. "Memory and the written testimony: the actresses of the public theatre in Calcutta in the 19th & 20th century." Letrônica 11, no. 3 (October 19, 2018): 113. http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1984-4301.2018.s.30663.
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Modern theatrical performances in Bengali language in Calcutta, the capital of British colonial rule, thrived from the mid-nineteenth century though they did not include women performers till 1874. The story of the early actresses is difficult to trace due to a lack of evidence in contemporary sources. So though a researcher is vaguely aware of their significance and contribution to Indian theatre, they have remained shadowy figures – nameless except for those few who have left a written testimony of their lives and activities. It is my intention through the study of this primary material and the scattered references to these legendary actresses in vernacular journals and memoirs, to recreate the stories of some of these divas and draw a connection between testimony and lasting memory. ***Memória e testemunho escrito: as atrizes do teatro público em Calcutá nos séculos XIX e XX***As representações teatrais modernas na língua bengali em Calcutá, a capital do governo colonial britânico, prosperaram a partir de meados do século XIX, embora não incluíssem mulheres até 1874. É difícil traçar a história das primeiras atrizes devido à falta de evidências em fontes contemporâneas. Dessa forma, embora o pesquisador tenha uma vaga consciência de sua contribuição e importância para o teatro indiano, elas permaneceram obscuras – anônimas, com exceção daquelas que deixaram um testemunho escrito de suas vidas e atividades. Por meio do estudo desse material primário e das referências esparsas a essas lendárias atrizes em diários e memórias na língua vernácula, pretendo recriar as histórias de algumas dessas divas e estabelecer uma conexão entre testemunho e memória duradouraPalavras-chave: Atrizes; Teatro bengali; Párias sociais; Representação e produção criativa; Memória e testemunho escrito.
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Gupta, Tanika. "As Long as the Punters Enjoy It." New Theatre Quarterly 24, no. 3 (August 2008): 260–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266464x08000316.
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Tanika Gupta is one of the most prolific and outstanding new writers in contemporary British theatre. Born in Chiswick in 1965, she is a bilingual British Bengali who – after reading modern history at Oxford University – began her career in 1991, when her Radio 4 play, Asha, was part of the BBC Young Playwrights Festival. In 1995, her BBC film, The Rhythm of Raz, was nominated for a Children's BAFTA and the following year her film Bideshi won an award at the Bombay Short Film Festival. Meanwhile, although she made a living writing for Grange Hill and EastEnders, her play Voices on the Wind was being developed and, in 1996–98, she was Writer-in-Residence at the Soho Theatre. In 1997, A River Sutra was staged at Three Mills Island, London, and Skeleton at the Soho Theatre. In 1998, Flight, her BBC2 screenplay, won an EMMA. The Waiting Room (2000), staged by the National, won the John Whiting Award, and was followed by Sanctuary (National) and Inside Out, toured by Clean Break (both 2002). In 2003, Gupta's Fragile Land opened the new Hampstead Theatre's education space, her Asian version of Hobson's Choice was staged at the Young Vic, and she won the Asian Woman of Achievement Award. Later, she had further success with her campaigning play about the Zahid Mubarek case, Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible, 2005), and Sugar Mummies (Royal Court, 2006). A year later came a play for the National Youth Theatre, White Boy (Soho). What follows is an edited transcript of Aleks Sierz's ‘In Conversation with Tanika Gupta’, part of the ‘Universal Voices’ festival held at Rose Bruford College, Sidcup, Kent, in April 2007, organized by Nesta Jones.
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SINHA ROY, MALLARIKA. "The Forgotten History of Our Times: Revisiting Utpal Dutt's Titu Mir in Contemporary India." Theatre Research International 48, no. 3 (October 2023): 264–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0307883323000172.
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This paper is an exploration of the most recent revival of Utpal Dutt's play Titu Mir in 2019 by the ensemble group Theatre Formation Paribartak in India. Islamic religious reformer Titu Mir led a peasant rebellion from 1827 to 1831 in the Barasat region of Bengal and the play focuses on a narrative of revolutionary resistance to colonialism. Titu Mir becomes an articulation of political theatre against the Hindu right-wing agenda of expunging Muslim national heroes from Indian history. This essay seeks Titu Mir's relevance as a site and theory of materializing historical contradictions, and as part of a ‘gestic’ feminist criticism of theatre. The essay attempts to understand how critique of patriarchal ideology is enmeshed in critique of colonialism in Titu Mir, especially in those moments where the play addresses complexities of political violence, interracial romance, martyrdom, alienation in the colony and deep-rooted misogyny in the project of colonialism.
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Ghoshal, Shubhra, and Nirban Manna. "Theatre for Sustainable Development: Jana Sanskriti’s Participatory Ideologue and Practice." Problemy Ekorozwoju 15, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 221–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.35784/pe.2020.1.23.
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As a reaction against the institutionalized top-down developmental orientation, the theory and praxis of development as an inclusive process of socio-political collective transformation has been constantly realized. At this juncture, performative activities have become increasingly instrumental strategies in engaging people more intrinsically in their various personal and social development issues. The focus of this paper lies in studying Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed, which despite being an apolitical organisation, offers significant contribution towards searching for viable socio-political possibilities in contemporary India. The paper delves into discussing some specific ground realities of rural West Bengal, deliberating on the endeavours of Jana Sanskriti in extending onstage representations to offstage reformation. This research investigates how sustainable changes, defined as both individual psychological transformation and groups’ socio-political consciousness are generated among spectators through participation in this theatrical process.
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Ara, Arzuman, and Sib Sankar Majumder. "Theatre as Social Critique in Select Nineteenth-Century Indian Plays." SCHOLARS: Journal of Arts & Humanities 5, no. 1 (February 15, 2023): 71–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/sjah.v5i1.52480.
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As an imitation of actions, theatre is representational. Different aspects of performative arts like theatre are a reflection of the contemporary age in which they are written and performed. Theatre in Calcutta, India, in the nineteenth century started being influenced by the colonial and European models. The changes brought in by colonial modernity are major tropes in many of the plays of that time. Colonial modernity brought English education, western liberal ideas and new lifestyle, which attracted the youth and made them criticize the old and traditional ways. Krishnamohan Bandyopadhyay’s (also spelt as Krishna Mohana Banerjea) The Persecuted and Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Ekei Ki Bole Sabbhyata? [Is This Called Civilization?] are two plays that represent the so-called colonial modernity and show how changes were taking place in the society in the colonial period in Bengal. The characters from two generations, the older following the traditional ways and the younger ones following Englishness, depict a confrontation of two civilizations. Ideologies, worldviews and new habits are formed among the youths, which are despised by the elders. The plays, thus, question the modern ways, that, if they really mean a civilization. This article attempts to show how the plays can be read as social critique at par with comedy of humours and comedy of manners.
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Mukherjee, Madhuja. "Little cinema culture: Networks of digital files and festival on the fringes." Studies in South Asian Film & Media 10, no. 1 (October 1, 2019): 23–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/safm_00003_1.
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Abstract This article reflects on the contemporary digital turn that has transformed our audio-visual experiences fundamentally, and has affected mainstream control over production and circulation of data. Clearly, such conditions have reinvented the problematical relation between producer and receiver. In relation to such circumstances, the article focuses on marginal film festivals, especially the TENT 'Little Cinema International Festival' for experimental films and new media-art, held in Kolkata, India, since 2014. 'Little Cinema International Festival', on one hand, showcases international packages such as those from Berlinale; on the other hand, it presents curated programmes comprising videos made by first-time filmmakers from India. The article deliberates on the broad and long drawn contexts of 'festivals' and artistic endeavours, as well as the formal contours of the videos, which generate spaces for dialogues, both within the filmic text, and in the milieus in which these are shown. The emphasis on the thriving 'amateur' practice also draws attention to 'Little Magazine', 'Little Theatre' and 'Little Film' practices in West Bengal, as well as contemporary new-media transactions, which has transmediated into newer modes of articulations.
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Ahmad, Aasif, and Mrinal Srivastava. "Portrayal of Society and Hardships in Badal Sircar’s Plays." International Journal of Reviews and Research in Social Sciences, March 31, 2023, 48–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.52711/2454-2687.2023.00008.
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In Indian literature, Badal Sircar is regarded as a promising author. He improved the Indian theatre while also adding to it. Badal Sircar was a brilliant playwright who excelled in writing plays that reformed society. He is a strong proponent for the oppressed and underprivileged sections. Badal Sircar demonstrates his excellence in depicting the modern social landscape realistically. His plays mostly focus on social, religious, political, personal, and interpersonal problems. His plays are an accurate picture of what is going on in the world. Sircar is a very sensitive writer who is compelled to write and ponder by the events taking place around him. His plays are a potent depiction of the predicament of people who are going through a difficult time in their lives due to numerous socio-political factors, both physically and mentally. He has produced over fifty plays. Generally speaking, he wrote his plays in Bengali, although many of them were afterwards translated into English. His plays mostly discuss societal themes, the plight of oppressed people, and dominance. This paper presents works by Badal Sircar that emphasise both significant historical occurrences and contemporary man's daily circumstances. All of his writings are based on actual incidents that took place in society close to him. This paper explains and illustrates how, as a dramatist, he skillfully depicts the present events and circumstances in readers lives to act as a mirror. The study paper looks for voices from both the dominant and underclasses. The research article critically reveals the terrible reality and sufferings of the lower classes. SOCIETY: Human relations or social relations refer to all of a person's interactions with other individuals. Society is the sum of all of these connections between people who live in a single neighborhood or nation. In a society where people have different needs and difficulties, an organization must meet those needs and provide solutions to the issues that arise. The establishment of these standards, which are based on intelligently and responsibly meeting the essential necessities of housing, education, protection, food, employment, health, and occupation, as well as amusement, clothes, and transportation, is how society is governed. Since an individual cannot make progress in every sector, the development of society is essential to growth.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Contemporary Bengali Theatre"
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Kanjilal, Amitava. "Politics of gender in performance: study of group theatre reductions during left front rule in West Bengal." Thesis, University of North Bengal, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/2796.
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GIRARD, DAVID M. "DIRECTING BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO: CONTEMPORARY MYTH ON A POST-MODERN STAGE." Master's thesis, Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/315506.
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TheaterM.F.A.
As a director and theatre artist, I want my creative work as a storyteller to illuminate myth. The beauty of myth transcends all cultural boundaries by revealing, through the art of storytelling, the universal within the particular, thus illuminating the foundation of our common experience. Playwright Rajiv Joseph is a consummate contemporary mythmaker. Whether rooted in the troubled desires of adolescence (Gruesome Playground Injuries,) or in our fascination with classical antiquity and our own contemporary nightmares, (Monsters at the Door), or Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo - a fantastic war-torn tale of a broken world adrift and lost in translation, his vision is muscularly metatheatrical. Stylistically, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo delves into what Joseph himself describes as magical realism, and in my thesis production, I was wanted to explore how magical realism could be deployed as a theatrical convention, particularly in relation to space. The Tiger is a character that is written in the spirit of the epic, and I used similar conventions in style and clarified actions with my cast. By using video projection mapping as a design concept, I attempted to juxtapose Joseph's hyperrealism with his vision of the fantastic. By fracturing the contemporary imagery of the day - the remnants of our myths driven the media and technology impress false needs that can only be fulfilled through consumerism and - and reconstruct them, I wanted to engender a objective reaction from the audience. In Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Rajiv Joseph has artfully conjured a caustic and cautionary tale that provocatively questions the very end of faith. This is a story of our time and all time; a postmodern theatrical myth that powerfully transcends the broken landscape of its exotic cultural boundaries. It is difficult to view Iraq today, and fail to view Joseph's play as frighteningly prescient. As a nation, we have fractured ourselves; as a species, we have forgotten our prayers; as a planet, we are all lost in translation. Those ideas are at the heart of my interpretation of the play.
Temple University--Theses
Books on the topic "Contemporary Bengali Theatre"
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Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (Colombo, Sri Lanka), ed. Politics and theatre: A comparative study of the construction of nation and gender in the contemporary Sinhalese and Bengali theatres. Colombo: Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, 1999.
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Richman, Paula, and Rustom Bharucha, eds. Performing the Ramayana Tradition. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197552506.001.0001.
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Performing the Ramayana Tradition: Enactments, Interpretations, and Arguments, edited by Ramayana scholar Paula Richman and Rustom Bharucha, scholar of Theater and Performance Studies, examines diverse retellings of the Ramayana narrative as interpreted and embodied through a spectrum of performances. Unlike previous publications, this book is neither a monograph on a single performance tradition nor a general overview of Indian theater. Instead, it provides context-specific analyses of selected case studies that explore contemporary enactments of performance traditions and the narratives from which they draw: Kutiyattam, Nangyarkuttu, and Kathakali from Kerala; Kattaikkuttu and a “mythological” drama from Tamil Nadu; Talamaddale from Karnataka; avant-garde performances from Puducherry and New Delhi; a modern dance-drama from West Bengal; the monastic tradition of Sattriya from Assam; anti-caste plays from North India; and the Ramnagar Ramlila. Apart from the editors’ two introductions, which orient readers to the history of Ramayana narratives by Tulsidas, Valmiki, Kamban, Sankaradeva, and others, as well as the performance vocabulary of their enactments, the volume includes many voices, including those of directors, performers, scholars, connoisseurs, and the scholar-abbot of a monastery. It also contains two full scripts of plays, photographs of productions, interviews, conversations, and a glossary of Indian terms. Each essay in the volume, written by an expert in the field, is linked to several others, clustered around shared themes: the politics of caste and gender, the representation of the anti-hero, contemporary reinterpretations of traditional narratives, and the presence of Ramayana discourse in everyday life.
Book chapters on the topic "Contemporary Bengali Theatre"
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Banerji, Arnab. "The evolution of Bengali group theatre." In Contemporary Group Theatre in Kolkata, India, 21–38. London; New York: Routledge, 2020.: Routledge, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429261954-4.
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Banerji, Arnab. "The materialist semiotics of Bengali group theatre." In Contemporary Group Theatre in Kolkata, India, 157–59. London; New York: Routledge, 2020.: Routledge, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780429261954-14.
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Banerjee, Sumanta. "Feminine Experiences in the Bengali Stage." In Women Performers in Bengal and Bangladesh, 101–15. Oxford University PressOxford, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192871510.003.0004.
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Abstract The first generation of Bengali actresses in the late 18th century, when the Western-style proscenium was established in Calcutta, was recruited from the city’s red-light areas, because of the traditional expertise of the prostitutes (who were otherwise looked down on as ‘patita’s or ‘fallen women’ in contemporary Bengali parlance) in performances like singing that they had learnt to entertain their clients. Over the next hundred years and more, their descendants emerged as eminent actresses on the Bengali stage. They also trained a new generation of aspiring Bengali young women coming up from the educated middle classes (known as bhadramahilas) who wanted to enter the stage. The Bengali theatre has turned full circle with the reentry of the modern descendants of the ‘patita’s in the Bengali performance space, this time with their own original plays. This chapter is a portrayal of that journey.
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Mukhopadhyay, Arijita. "Labour, Infrastructure, Division of Labour, and the Position of the New Generation Women Performers in Kolkata." In Women Performers in Bengal and Bangladesh, 169–79. Oxford University PressOxford, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192871510.003.0008.
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Abstract This chapter attempts to gauge professional theatre groups as institutionalized ‘collectives’ and explores the position of women workers. Through interviews of women theatre workers from different social, economic, political, and even religious backgrounds, the chapter tries to understand the gendered identities of theatre groups of contemporary Kolkata and attempts to comprehend if and how the feminine identity plays a role in deciding the nature of work and wages due to women theatre performers. The chapter further unravels different journeys of women theatre workers with a family legacy as well as those who do not come from such a privileged background.
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De, Madhubanti. "Survival, Agency, and the Politics of Compromise." In Women Performers in Bengal and Bangladesh, 180–95. Oxford University PressOxford, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192871510.003.0009.
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Abstract Historically, women performers of Bengal have demonstrated a tendency to traverse different media, moving seamlessly from theatre to television and the film industry. In a similar vein, more recently, actresses from the stage in Bengal have also worked in digital media (OTT platforms) in addition to these fields. The intermedial (situated at the intersection of different media) nature of the actress’ work, alongside its sporadic documentation, problematizes any effort to trace a historiography of her work, bringing it into negotiation with the category of memory. This chapter attempts to examine the place held by women in their public lives as performers in Kolkata through recollections, correspondence, and essays by and interviews with veteran and contemporary actresses, directors, playwrights, and technicians working full-time as well as freelancers on individual projects, film/television, and web serials. Through these sources, the chapter seeks to trace the emergence of a new intermedial field rife with structural and interpersonal inequalities, within which these performers negotiate their survival through a unique politics of agency and compromise.