This quote from "Hamlet", which makes the title of our blog, ideally sums up the world theater day, celebrated each year on March 27. It was instituted in 1961 by the International Theater Institute.
The quote is a play on the word 'play'. A play means the theater piece, 'drama' as typically it is understood/referred to. Such a play always abounds with reality in all its aspects, and thereby 'mirrors', to quote Hamlet again, reality.
Often, in reality, we enact different roles in different spaces. 'A boss in an MNC is a cook and a maid at home', as was pointed out by Indira Nooyi, for instance. In addition, some people are so excellent at putting masks that their faces blur behind such screens.
'A man may smile and smile, and be a villain', so observes Hamlet. Such a veil, which made the exp(l)osive 'mousetrap' in the play within the play in 'Hamlet', is what the dramatic space opens up on the stage and in life with its 'seven stages'.
Drama has always been central to life, and it everywhere. The liturgical rituals, full of spectacle, led to British drama, while the Greek theater, detailed human flaws and tragic destinies in the cosmic/'fatal' contexts.
Our very own theatrical tradition is as fabulous as it is diverse and varied. Our classical Sanskrit texts are so enriching that even an orientalist translation of Kalidasa's 'Shakuntalam' made Goethe dance ecstatically. Our folk tradition is vibrant, too.
A 'yakshagan' performance, a Kathakali dance drama, a 'dashavtar' by the 'mandali's, the 'Ramlila', absolutely rich are the variants which so 'show' the epic stories thousand times told all over India that you see them yet again with dazzled eyes and enriched with enchanting ditties. Some proof is the Marathi Sangeet Natak.
Just as Aristotle in his 'Poetics' talks about hamartia and catharsis, our Bharat Muni in his 'Natya Shastra' talks of how a play creates the "Ras Anubhuti." The play, in brief, is indeed the thing.
In our times, when the mobile screen is downsizing the wor(l)d in to a cocoon of the "I, me, my" space, the theater with its famed 'fourth wall' sustains the community feeling, right? Hence the importance of this day dedicated to play!
Pratima@ Whenever I teach a play, I refuse to make it a mere script. I make students enact, at least orally, if not the full-fledged way, a few scenes. Thus come alive for them, I believe, the spaces and silences which sure would help their own communication, too!
Quote of the day: "Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theatre, a piece of music or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.” So states, the British actor and director, Alan Rickman the importance of drama.
Word of the day: 'Drama' refers to the entire ouevre of an author, while a 'play' is an individual instance thereof. Shakespearean drama has plays such as 'Hamlet', 'Othello' and 'Macbeth', for example.
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