CONTEMPORARY INDIAN THEATRE: Theatricality and Artistic Crossovers

Crossover of various disciplines is an inherent phenomenon of Indian theatre and performing arts. With the coming of western influence during the colonial as well as postcolonial periods, the character of modern Indian theatre has metamorphosed, and this is often reflected in the realistic theatre of the country. The larger sections of the Indian theatre scene belong to the experimental theatre, which derives its energy and motivation from the classical and folk/tribal theatre, and is basically an interdisciplinary theatre. Music, dance, acrobatic movements, gesticulation of emotions are the integral aspects of such theatre.

The idea of artistic crossovers in the performing arts does not solely refer to exchanges between artistic disciplines. Art itself, as a whole, can be seen as a discipline in an interdisciplinary relationship with other fields, such as education or the social sciences (anthropology, politics, sociology and so on) and the pure and applied sciences. We also see a lot of negotiations between art and questions that are already interdisciplinary, such as feminism; spirituality; the environment; and political issues of gender, race, class, sexual orientation; etc. The discourses on these subjects inspire many artists for experiments at the level of mixing forms.

The collection of various articles in this book presents a varied panoramic view of the artistic crossovers in one way or the other.

Contents
1 Tagore?s Holistic Expression / Tapati Gupta
2 Women Directors / Asha Pande
3 Plot and Narration in Indian Theatre / Ravi Chaturvedi
4 Rabindranath Tagore and His Notion of ?Theatre as Dance? / Abhijit Sen
5 Tradition of Mediation between Unhappiness and Happiness / Vibha Sharma
6 There is Nothing Like Nautanki / Devendra Sharma
7 Response and Responsibilities / Urmimala Sarkar Munsi
8 Body and Object / Justyna Janiszewska-Krukowska
9 The Spoken Word to Performance / Ajay Joshi
10 Glocalization of Assamese Folk Music and its Reflection of ?Local Identity? / Junali Deka
11 Theatre and History in the Postcolony / Abin Chakraborty
12 Forbidden Dance / A.P. Rajaram
13 Beyond the Hindu Nationalist Frames / Rajdeep Konar
14 Women?s Body as a Site of Dissent / Eldhose A.Y. and Manju V.V.
15 Drama/Theatre and Film / Somdatta Mandal