Theatres of independence drama, theory and urban performance in India since 1947

Includes bibliographical references (p. 449-461) and index.

1. Postcolonial frames and the subject of modern Indian theatre -- 2. The formation of a new "national canon" -- 3. Authorship, textuality, and multilingualism -- 4. Production and reception : directors, audiences, and the mass media -- 5. Orientalism, cultural nationalism, and the erasure of the present -- 6. Myth, ambivalence, and evil -- 7. The ironic history of the nation -- 8. Realism and the edifice of home -- 9. Alternative stages : antirealism, gender, and contemporary "folk" theatre -- 10. Intertexts and countertexts -- App. 1. The program of the Nehru Shatabdi Natya Samaroh (Nehru Centenary Theatre Festival), New Delhi, 3-17 September 1989 -- App. 2. Major Indian playwrights and plays, 1950-2004 -- App. 3. Major Indian theatre directors, 1950-2004 -- App. 4. Key productions of some major post-independence plays -- App. 5. Productions, mainly in Hindi, by three contemporary directors -- App. 6. Productions by ten contemporary directors and theatre groups -- App. 7. Modern urban transmissions of the Mahabharata : the principal genres -- App. 8. The Euro-American intertexts of post-independence drama and theatre -- App. 9. Prose narratives on the stage -- App. 10. Brecht intertexts in post-independence Indian theatre.

"Theatres of Independence is the first comprehensive study of drama, theatre, and urban performance in post-independence India. Combining theatre history with theoretical analysis and literary interpretation, Aparna Dharwadker examines the unprecedented conditions for writing and performance that the experience of new nationhood created in a dozen major Indian languages and offers detailed discussions of the major plays, playwrights, directors, dramatic genres, and theories of drama that have made the contemporary Indian stage a vital part of postcolonial and world theatre." "Treating drama and theatre as strategically interrelated activities, the study makes post-independence Indian theatre visible as a multifaceted critical subject to scholars of modern drama, comparative theatre, theatre history, and the new national and postcolonial literatures."--BOOK JACKET.