{"id":1184,"date":"2019-01-03T19:30:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T19:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/?p=1184"},"modified":"2022-02-06T21:01:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T21:01:12","slug":"initial-thoughts-on-the-curious-case-of-postdramatic-theatre-in-the-indian-context","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/initial-thoughts-on-the-curious-case-of-postdramatic-theatre-in-the-indian-context\/","title":{"rendered":"Initial Thoughts on the Curious Case of Postdramatic Theatre in the Indian Context"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Deepa Punjani<\/strong>*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of our Association\u2019s Thalia Prize to Professor Hans-Thies Lehmann, I think it will be appropriate for me to make a few observations and highlight some points from an Indian perspective, with regards to Professor Lehmann\u2019s conceptualization of Postdramatic Theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I come from a place that has diverse theatre traditions\nthat are not only ancient but very much alive, even today. Besides, \u201cdrama\u201d in\nthe Indian context has never held a particularly fixed meaning, at least unlike\nthe Western understanding of drama. In the Indian context, ritual and tradition,\nas practiced in various communities, each with their inherent social\nstratification and sub cultures, form as well as inform performance. I\nconsciously use the word \u201cperformance\u201d and not \u201cdrama,\u201d though the Western\nconcept of drama is now completely merged with the various performative\ntraditions in Indian theatre as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian theatre traditions rooted in ritualistic and folk\ntheatre are, therefore, best suited for what may be termed \u201cpre-dramatic\u201d\ntheatre, that is more close to tribal, shamanistic, community, or, let\u2019s say,\nthe Dionysiac rituals that laid the foundation of theatre and drama for\nancient\/Hellenistic Greek theatre. In India, there is a reason why we speak of living\ncultures, and this is something that has been observed in Asian, African and\nother native\/indigenous cultures as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The panel of speakers, the chairperson of IATC and Mr. Lehmann. Photo: Franco Bonfiglio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Against this background, Professor Lehmann\u2019s critical\ncontribution to the discourse of theatre, with his special emphasis on\n\u201cPostdramatic Theatre\u201d can make an interesting argument in that his thesis\nbecomes very helpful in a roundabout way, or let\u2019s say in an upside-down manner,\nto actually appreciate the dimensions of theatre in India that beat homogenous\ndescriptions. Here, \u201cPostdramatic\u201d can be construed as an overarching term that\ngives a historical insight into the multiplicity and diversity of Indian\ntheatrical traditions that defy more conventional definitions of drama.\nAlternatively, the term is also useful to look at the various experiments in\nIndian theatre that have more in common with their Western counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From left to right: Peng Tao, Deepa Punjani, Emmanuel Dandaura and Margareta Soerenson. Photo: Franco Bonfiglio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The idea of Postdramatic theatre in the Indian context can\nalso be a useful tool to understand more specifically the differentia as well\nas the overlap between theatrical forms such as folk, classical, street,\nagitprop, immersive, site-specific, the praxis between art installation and\ntheatre, video art and theatre, theatre and contemporary dance, theatre of scenography\nand new technologies\u2014all of which are present in the Indian theatre landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, I am also intrigued by Professor Lehmann\u2019s\ninsights on the basis of his unique model that not only marks a demarcation\nbetween the mimetic form of drama and its disruption by the bold and\nexperimental artists that he has referenced, but which also pinpoints the\nprocesses that make these works distinct and different. And therein lies its\nsignificance. The theatre from Professor Lehmann\u2019s perspective is no longer a\nfixed entity that conveys meaning but a constantly evolving site that seeks to\npush the boundaries of text and the other materials used in production\u2014making\nthe work potentially exciting as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is my privilege to have engaged with Professor Lehmann\u2019s\nwork, though briefly, and I am happy that our Association has recognized his\ncontribution and scholarship by way of the Thalia Prize. I wish him well. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\"\"\n\n\n\n

*<\/a>Deepa Punjani<\/strong> <\/a>\u00a0is the editor of the website Mumbai Theatre Guide<\/a>, a prominent theatre portal in India with 70,000 plus followers. She is founder-representative of the Indian National Section of the IATC and serves on the IATC\u2019s Executive Committee. Besides being an active theatre critic, she has been invited to advise theatre festivals; has been a jury\/selection committee member, and has trained young theatre critics. Deepa has been an actress and an academic. Her M.Phil thesis (2004) focused on the lives of two select Indian women in theatre in the context of feminism and gender representation on the Indian stage. She has written on cinema and other topical events in the interest of democracy and social justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9<\/strong> 2018 Deepa Punjani
Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN: 2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This work is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deepa Punjani* On the occasion of our Association\u2019s Thalia Prize to Professor Hans-Thies Lehmann, I think it will be appropriate for me to make a few observations and highlight some points from an Indian perspective, with regards to Professor Lehmann\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[61],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thalia-prize","tag-by-deepa-punjani","","tg-column-two"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2019\/01\/Punjani_featured.jpg?fit=300%2C192&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pam472-j6","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1661,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions\/1661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}