NOTES FROM THE ARCHIVE: PRINT & THEATRE
Theatre and vernacular print culture emerged hand in hand during the colonial period in India and became highly instrumental in propagating the anti-imperial struggle. However, an exclusive commentary on and for theatre emerged post- Independence and began to disseminate through magazines, periodicals, and newsletters, chronicling not only theatre as a form, but as a socio-political document commenting on its time. While on one hand, the state-generated print materials through the efforts of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, delved towards giving form to an unified ‘Indian’ theatre, regional and alternative forms of print culture, which mostly started as private initiatives, gave shape to understanding the theatrical landscape in India through the diversity it offers. Through this series, the Alkazi Theatre Archives will explore the alternative documentation of theatre since the early 1950s and its shared relation with print culture, investigating intersections between language, identity, censorship, theatre-photography and theatre-journalism.
Theatre News in Natya – National and International, 1958 (25 March 2021)
Advertisements & Subscriptions: Tools to Understand Readership of Theatre Magazines (5 April 2021)
Abhinay: An Inland Letter Theatre Journal by Anand Gupt (9 April 2021)
Contextualising Theatre and Cultural Policy in India (1960s-70s) Through Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Article (13 April 2021)
Contextualising Theatre and Cultural Policy in India (1980s-90s) Through Newspaper Clippings (16 April 2021)
Unearthing Postcolonial Modernity: Prabhat Kumar Tripathi’s ‘Desi Dimaag Ki Jarurat’ in Kalavaarta, 1981. (22 April 2021)
Labour Day: A Look Back at Utpal Dutt’s Angar (1959) in Seagull Theatre Quarterly (1 May, 2021)
Televised Theatre of 1980s: Kissa Ek Chunav Ka (5 May, 2021)
Visiting Agyeya’s ‘Apne Apne Ajnabi’ Through Newspaper Review and Brochure (6 May, 2021)
Historicizing Ebrahim Alkazi’s Hiroshima With 1970 Production Brochure (8 May, 2021)
Amal Allana’s ‘The Exception And The Rule’ (1979): Brochure and Photograph as Research Tools (10 May, 2021)
Historicizing Theatre and Censorship through Newspaper Reports (7 June, 2021)
Understanding Women’s Voices in Indian Theatre in the 1980s through Magazines and Newspaper articles (28 June, 2021)
20th Century Radio Drama: Contextualizing Intermediality through Radio Drama Criticisms in Theatre Magazines (12 July, 2021)
Understanding the Significance of Theatre Magazines and Journals in 1970-80s Mumbai by Analysing the Editorial of ‘Bharatashastra’ (27 July, 2021)
Debating the Function of Theatre in the 1970s-90s as Discussed in Little Theatre Group’s Newsletter ‘Theatre News/ Stagedoor’ (2 August, 2021)
Reading Through Theatre Ephemera: Mapping the Post-independence Cultural Sphere in India (16 August, 2021)
World Photography Day: Revisiting the Friction between Recording Technologies and Theatre (18 August, 2021)
A Case Study of Natya: Theatre Arts Journal Published by the Bharatiya Natya Sangh in 1950s-60s (26 August, 2021)
Rangmanch: Analyzing the Finances, Circuits and Discourse Generated by the Journal (1976-1990) Published by Kala Mandir, Gwalior (10 September, 2021)
Tracing Theatre Criticism in Mumbai’s Marathi Monthly Periodical Bharatshastra, 1978-1984. (18 September, 2021)