After Independence, in 1947, in their efforts to create an ‘Indian’ theatre that was different from the Westernized, colonial theatre, Indian theatre practitioners began returning to their ‘roots’ in classical dance, religious ritual, martial arts, popular entertainment and aesthetic theory. The Theatre of Roots - as this movement was known - was the first conscious effort at creating a body of work for urban audiences combining modern European theatre with traditional Indian performance while maintaining its distinction from both.By addressing the politics of aesthetics and by challenging the visual practices, performer/spectator relationships, dramaturgical structures and aesthetic goals of colonial performance, the movement offered a strategy for reassessing colonial ideology and culture and for articulating and defining a newly emerging ‘India’. Theatre of Roots presents an in-depth analysis of this movement: its innovations, theories, goals, accomplishments, problems and legacies.

Product Description: Includes: The Fire and the Rain by Girish Karnad; 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 and Routes and Escape Routes by Datta Bhagat, translated by Maya Pandit...read more