September 1996. Editor: Anjum Katyal
As a colleague pointed out, one kept coming across the word 'politics' at various points in this issue; but what I want to stress is that even when the word 'politics' is absent, the political is so very present. By which I only mean to say that the political imbues every aspect of our lives:our values, the decisions we take, our relationships with others. There are politics of gender. Of culture. Of religion. Of race. And just as there is political action, there is as political inaction -to do nothing can be as much a political act as to do something (this view of the political is, of course, in itself a political position!). All or which returns me to where I started: all theatre is political. And the theatre worker must accept responsibility for the kind of politics s/he is identifying with through the theatre s/he is doing. For there is no such thing as a value-neutral position.
CONTENTS Sculpting A Play Sudhanva Deshpande 'I really don't know where theatre ends and life begins' G.P. Deshpande Bhramyaman : The travelling theatre of Assam Dr Bhabendranath Saikia HA-I-MU: An Opera Pallab Roy On Mahesh Dattani's Dance like a Man The politics of production and performance Angelie Multani Telling Sacred Tales : The art of Harikatha Meera Rammohan Street plays for Elections : My Experience Sameer Das Response to a Diatribe Sudhanva Deshpande Author's Response Paramita Banerjee Theatre and a Taste of Childhood for Street Children Ranjana Bhattacharya Anandam Cultural Centre : Working with Children Shankar Dutta Gupta Pagla Ghora: A Review Paramita Banerjee Letters Download the complete issue here