India Theaters

Characteristic of all Indian theater, preserved through the centuries despite the enormous ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences between the various peoples of the peninsula, is the inseparable link between poetic declamation, music, song and dance. At the origin of every manifestation was the temple, the focal point not only of religious life but of every form of associative existence. In it, since ancient times, groups of women were formed, the devadāsi (handmaids of god), who, after a long and severe training started in childhood, dedicated themselves to ritual dances, whose meaning, symbols and technique are in the Nāṭyaśāstra. The theater of the great epoch (that of Sanskrit dramaturgy which had very distant origins and reached the year 1000 ca. of our era) was the fifth Veda, a sacred art in which all the arts converged, a fundamental aesthetic and emotional experience, a severe discipline with very strict rules. There were no permanent theaters (for the performances, usually concomitant with religious solemnities, temples or halls of palaces were adapted) and there were no sets, all being entrusted to the conventional gestures of the actors and the symbolism of the costumes. The actors, organized or associated with itinerant professional companies, were poorly paid and their social position was very low.

According to Rctoysadvice, the use of actresses was usual from the beginning. The classical tradition survives in part in the numerous forms of popular spectacle existing in each region: the repertoires are often translations and adaptations of the best known Sanskrit dramas, but the more explicitly spectacular components are generally of great importance and the relationship with the life, customs and ritual ceremonies of the people is much more direct. The acting is highly stylized and constantly accompanied by songs and dances; there are character-masks like the sūtradhāra, or narrator, and the vidūṣaka, or clown; ample space is given to improvisation. Parallel to the history of popular entertainment is that of dramatic dance, which has reached extraordinary aesthetic levels in India; popular drama and dramatic dance are still the most popular genres of entertainment and remain faithful to ancient traditions, altered only in commercial theaters with a pre-eminence of visual and sound effects. The development of modern drama in the western sense of the term has been and still is arduous and the cases in which it has harmoniously merged with national forms have been rare. The British began to present shows according to their taste since the end of the century. XVIII, but only in the second half of the nineteenth century was an indigenous repertoire formed. However, it has not had great developments, having always been entrusted to amateur groups and therefore remained on the margins of the cultural and social life of the country. Many of these groups have staged the works of major European playwrights and tried to adapt them to local traditions; others have exhumed the masterpieces of Sanskrit drama by translating them into today’s languages; still others have recovered the lessons of popular entertainment and dramatic dance in a modern key; finally others have conducted important experiences of political theater. In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (Many of these groups have staged the works of major European playwrights and tried to adapt them to local traditions; others have exhumed the masterpieces of Sanskrit drama by translating them into today’s languages; still others have recovered the lessons of popular entertainment and dramatic dance in a modern key; finally others have conducted important experiences of political theater. In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome.

The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (Many of these groups have staged the works of major European playwrights and tried to adapt them to local traditions; others have exhumed the masterpieces of Sanskrit drama by translating them into today’s languages; still others have recovered the lessons of popular entertainment and dramatic dance in a modern key; finally others have conducted important experiences of political theater. In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (others have exhumed the masterpieces of Sanskrit drama by translating them into today’s languages; still others have recovered the lessons of popular entertainment and dramatic dance in a modern key; finally others have conducted important experiences of political theater. In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (others have exhumed the masterpieces of Sanskrit drama by translating them into today’s languages; still others have recovered the lessons of popular entertainment and dramatic dance in a modern key; finally others have conducted important experiences of political theater. In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (In short, a situation in motion is emerging, although it is unlikely that there will be a completely significant theater for contemporary man before the serious contradictions that slow down or paralyze the development of the country have been smoothed out and overcome. The shadow theater deserves a separate mention (chāyanāṭāka), which some want to originate precisely in India and which in any case developed here since ancient times (the Mahābhārata mentions it several times) as a profane and exquisitely popular show, but of which there are also numerous examples of literary value.