Utpal Dutt and Political Theatre in Postcolonial India

Among the most significant playwrights and theatre-makers of postcolonial India, Utpal Dutt (1929-1993), was an early exponent of rethinking colonial history through political theatre. Dutt envisaged political theatre as part of the larger Marxist project, and his incorporation of new developments in Marxist thinking, including the contributions of Antonio Gramsci, makes it possible to conceptualise his protagonists as insurgent subalterns. A decolonial approach to staging history remained a significant element in Dutt's artistic project. This Element examines Dutt's passionate engagement with Marxism and explores how this sense of urgency was actioned through the writing and producing of plays about the peasant revolts and armed anti-colonial movements which took place during the period of British rule. Drawing on contemporary debates in political theatre regarding the autonomy of the spectator and the performance of history, the author locates Dutt's political theatre in a historical frame.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. People's history as people's theatre; 2. Theatre at the limit of history: critical reflections on political theatre; 3. In love and war: nationalism and decolonization in Jara; Conclusion; Bibliography.

Product details

• Authors: Mallarika Sinha (Jawaharlal Nehru University Roy, Mallarika Sinha Roy, Mallarika (Jawaharlal Nehru University) Sinha Roy, Sinha Roy Mallarika
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2024
• EAN: 9781009500227
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0950022-7
• No. of pages: 84
• Series: Elements in Theatre, Performance and the Political
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; Political Ideologies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, Social & cultural history, India, Theatre Studies, National liberation & independence, post-colonialism, Political ideologies and movements, History of Performing Arts, Decolonisation and postcolonial studies