Poetics, Plays, and Performances

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Poetics, Plays, and Performances is written by Vasudha Dalmia and published by Oxford University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 0199087954 (ISBN 10) and 9780199087952 (ISBN 13).

This book addresses the political and aesthetic concerns of modern Indian theatre, tracing its genealogies, and looking in particular at its appropriation of 'folk' theatre. Starting with the plays of Bharatendu Harishchandra in 1870s Banaras, the book moves forward to Jayshankar Prasad and Mohan Rakesh, landmark figures in the history of modern Indian drama. Dalmia then focuses on the intense urban interaction with folk theatre forms, their politicization in the 1940s and later again in the 1970s. Finally the book maps some of the routes taken by avant-garde women directors since the last decades of the twentieth century. Theatre students, critics, cultural historians, scholars of South Asian theatre, as well as general readers will find the book inspiring.