Performing the Radical

This revealing volume rethinks notions of the radical in Indiaâs current political climate by exploring a range of contemporary theatre and performance, appealing to scholars not only in India but around the globe.

Topics covered include rituals, protests, dance, faith, community and studies of individual artists and writers. Chapters include discussions of the performance of protest; world-making through transformative encounters; radical imperatives of care in animated videos and short films; documentary theatre as a tool of dissent; the actorâs body as a site of resistance, and the performance of faith as survival in a hostile world.

This book argues that the current political and economic climate in India - described as a mix of crony capitalism and exclusionary politics of the Hindutva variety - has affected the nature of political and aesthetic radicalism in the country. Theatre has found many ways to perform the radical as a form of resistance, entailing not only its intersections with other forms of art and performance, but also with the political itself in its theatricalized structure. The radical in Indian theatre and performance is shown to lie in creating a new 'transgressive aesthetic', often formally hybrid, to project an alternative perspective and possibilities.

Balancing theory, context and performance analysis, this volume gives the reader comprehensive knowledge of 21st-century Indian performance and its historical and aesthetic antecedents. Through its focus on different iterations of political and aesthetic radicalism, it also articulates theatreâs ability to disrupt the status quo and reveal the possibilities of change.