Performing the Radical

This revealing volume rethinks notions of the radical by exploring a range of contemporary theatre and performance produced in response to the politico-cultural climate in twenty-first century India. Offering a critique of dominant power structures built on Hindu supremacy in a multifaith and multiethnic society, neoliberalism morphing into crony capitalism and heteronormative and casteist politics, the book showcases how this has not only given rise to censorship and intolerance of dissent but also brought forth new forms of political and aesthetic radicalism. Theatre has found many ways to perform the radical as a form of resistance, entailing its intersections with other forms of art and performance as well as with the political itself in its theatricalized structure. The radical in contemporary Indian theatre and performance is shown to lie in creating a new ''transgressive aesthetic'', often formally hybrid, to project alternative perspectives and possibilities. Chapters include discussions of the performance of protest; creation of an alternative worldview through indigenous rituals and cultural festivals; world-making through transformative encounters; devised plays and documentary theatre as tools of dissent; radical imperatives of care in animated videos and short films; scenography and the actor''s body as sites of resistance, and the performance of faith as survival in a hostile world. Balancing theory, context and performance analysis, this volume gives the reader comprehensive knowledge of 21st-century Indian performance. Through its focus on different iterations of the radical in society and performance, it articulates theatre''s ability to disrupt the status quo and reveal the possibilities of change.

Product details

• Authors: William C Boles, Anja Hartl, Ashis Sengupta
• Assisted by: Ashis Sengupta (Editor), Boles William C. (Editor of the series), Anja Hartl (Editor of the series)
• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 14.05.2026
• EAN: 9781350465619
• ISBN: 978-1-350-46561-9
• No. of pages: 256
• Series: Methuen Drama Agitations: Text, Politics and Performances
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; Political Ideologies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Radicalism, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism, 21st Century, India, Theatre Studies, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, Political ideologies and movements, HISTORY / Asia / South / India