Setting the Stage: An Introduction -- The City and its Theatre. The City of Kolkata -- The Evolution of the Bengali Group Theatre -- The Material Conditions of Bengali Group Theatre. Can you Train to be a Labor: Training in and for the Bengali Group Theatre -- No Space to Call Home -- In the Corridors of Shastri Bhavan -- Funding Theatre in Kolkata -- From the Page to the Stage -- organization and rehearsal in Bengali Group Theatre -- Case Studies. Rang-Roop: Good ol' Bengali Group Theatre -- Revolution Through Play: The Theatre of Theatre Formation Paribartak -- The Materialist Semiotics of Bengali Group Theatre -- Some Concluding Thoughts.
Summary:
"This book is the first of its kind offering a materialistic semiotic analysis of a non-Western theatre culture "the Bengali group theatre." Arnab Banerji fills two lacunas in contemporary theatre scholarship. First, the materialist semiotic approach to studying a non-Western theatre event allows Banerji to critically examine the material conditions in which theatre is created and seen outside the Euro-American context. And second, by shifting the critical lens on to a contemporary urban theatre phenomenon from India, the book attempts to even out the scholastic imbalance in Indian theatre scholarship which has largely focused on folk and classical traditions. The book shows a refreshing new perspective towards a theatre culture that frequently escapes the critical lens in spite of being one of the largest urban theatre cultures in the world. Theatre events are a sum total of the conditions in which they are built and the conditions in which they are viewed. Studying the event separate from its materialistic beginnings and semiotic effects allow only a partial insight into the performance phenomenon. The materialist semiotic critical framework of this book locates the Bengali group theatre within its performative context and offers a heretofore insight into this vibrant theatre culture"-- Provided by publisher.
Series:
Routledge advances in theatre and performance studies
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.