How Ananda Lal Rewrites the Conversation Around Indian Theatre History in new book Centrestage
In Centrestage, Ananda Lal emphasises on the need to document theatrical trends, given the ephemerality of the medium
Centrestage book (Amazon.in) Ananda Lal, literary scholar and drama critic, in Centrestage: Essays on Theatre, Indian and Intercultural, brings together a diverse range of essays that adopt a critical approach to writings and scholarship on theatre. Lal is not interested in intellectual nitpicking. Instead, he encourages the theatre community to shake off apathy towards academic literature and intervene in corrective treatment.
Emphasising the need to document theatrical trends — given its ephemeral nature — Lal talks about the ‘growing incidence of interculturalism as more and more people from abroad arrive either to engage in collaborative productions or conduct research projects’. But their ‘good intentions are not enough’, he notes. This critical approach is most present in Chapter 8: ‘Interrogating the Academic Representation of India’, where he points out incongruous mistakes and misrepresentations in a range of publications, including Guide to Theatre and Illustrated History of Theatre among others. Lal offers an alternative method for approaching theatre practices with examples in topics ranging from drama to histories of both colonial and postcolonial theatre as well as the pedagogy of theatre through his personal experiences as the a professor of English in Jadavpur University.
An entire segment is dedicated to interculturalism as a new moment. Lal returns to its history through detailed case studies of Peter Brooke’s Mahabharata. Many of Lal’s essays have developed from his researched introductions to various publications and translations of plays. In Centrestage, they have been reworked to stand alone and demonstrate his deep engagement with the world of theatre.
Critical perspective is present throughout the book, but is particularly visible in ‘Indian Drama in English’, where he offers detailed archival research of previously unearthed material, specifically three key texts from 19th century drama: KM Banerjea’s The Persecuted or Dramatic Scenes, Illustrative of the Present state of Hindoo Society in Calcutta (1831), Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Rizia; Empress of India (1849–50, 1855), and a lesser known play Kaminee (1874). Lal, on the trail of the unknown author of Kaminee, G Ritchie, and the fragmented text of Rizia, discovers obscure sources in family archives. He traces Ritchie’s family tree and possible lineage, and collates an exciting narrative without compromising on rigorous academic research.
The following chapters – ‘A Brief Historiography of Modern Indian Theatre’, with Rabindranath Tagore at the centre, and ‘Political Perspectives: A Quartet from the 1970s’, ranging from Utpal Dutt’s Barricade (1972) to examples from the first phase of experiments with roots and indigenous forms — are about a much later period but maintain chronological coherence and cogency. The section on Barricade unravels why some plays, because of their agonistic politics, were never incorporated into the nation’s history of theatre despite their popularity and relevance. The other three, Jokumaraswamy (1972), Charandas Chor (1975) and Pebet (1975) are excellent examples of theatre representing regional identities.
Lal introduces a range of new dramatic texts and productions from Kolkata that he categorises as socio-politics that have women at the centre, focus on dramatist-director-leaders and are post-pandemic. Written in a lucid, non-jargonistic way, the book is not only a look back at history but, also in Lal’s gentle and generous style, a recovery of what is positive while not shying away from valid criticism. He delves into processes and personal interactions, which are delightful to read, and recovers many of their artistic and aesthetic values from denigration.
Not as a critique of Lal but following in his footsteps, I ask a pertinent question: How can a publication, despite its grounded and researched work, but with a distinct regional slant and focus on urban Calcutta theatre, be able to counter the macro histories that are emerging out of the commercialisation of publication and neo-liberal education and scholarship, when it is written without an understanding of the material conditions of theatre practices? The book is an important step towards a more grounded scholarship on theatre but requires many more such publications to transform into an academic movement despite all odds. Reading it leaves one with a will to redress the problems.
The writer is a professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
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