Phedra

Author: Kumudini Arvind Mehta Editor: Sharmishta Saha

Theatre in Mumbai or colonial Bombay emerged at a time when the city was still finding its own contours and taking shape. “Theatre” in the sense of the art form and the word that we know today, which has been comfortably incorporated in almost all Indian languages also took shape during this early period. Kumudini Arvind Mehta’s doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Bombay, now known as University of Mumbai is being published in the form of this book. It navigates the journey of “theatre” starting with the early “amateur theatre” at Bombay Green in the late eighteenth century. Today we know this area as the Horniman Circle in Mumbai. She traces the origins of professional theatre in colonial Bombay to the amateur exercises of the English inhabitants, the Parsi businessmen and the English educated local inhabitants of the city. She painstakingly goes through newspaper articles and announcements, old journals, property papers, old maps etc., to weave the narrative of “theatre” that shapes the legacy of the art form that was either inherited or rejected by later artists. Mehta’s work is significant not only for the study of “theatre” but also to understand colonial sociability and the role of the English language in this regard. Sharmistha Saha, the editor of the book has given it its present shape. She has primarily updated citations, incorporated information on current research as also images of the erstwhile theatre districts wherever applicable.

Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.

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Editors: Akshara K V,  B R Venkataramana Aithala, Deepa Ganesh

This source book on Kannada theatre history is a valuable contribution to the larger field of Indian Theatre Studies. Avoiding the shortcuts of an overview or a Wikipedia-like assemblage of information, it delves into the lives, histories, struggles, debates and anecdotes surrounding some of the most pioneering figures in the shaping of Kannada theatre between 1850-1950. The selection of primary sources, most of which are being made available in English for the first time, is nothing short of a revelation in the way it illuminates insights into the actual making and thinking of theatre practice. Here we have a model of how the construct of ‘Indian Theatre’ can be textured, inflected, individuated and problematized at regional, local and intracultural levels.  Rustom Bharucha .This book is a labour of love by scholars who not only love Kannada theatre, but want to pass on their enjoyment of it. Delving deep into folklore oral history, local history, gossip debate and discourse, the editors bring out the world of Kannada theatres in pluralistic terms. Scholarship and playfulness combine to create a powerful act of storytelling where the book itself mimics the career of Kannada theatre. As an anthology it becomes an initiation rite, an introduction to all the great figures, not as hagiography but as nuanced analysis. Big questions and little questions combine to create both a sense of combativeness and a wonderful feeling of homecoming. Like tricksters, they break the binaries of tradition and modernity, treating it almost like a bad play which needs new scripts and new performers. A wonderful anthology. A deeply desi book, with all the cosmopolitanism of world theatre.

Interested readers may write to us at mup@manipal.edu about purchasing the book.

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