So Near, Yet So Far: Badal Sircar’s Third Theatre

Book: So Near, Yet So Far: Badal Sircar’s Third Theatre
Written by: Manujendra Kundu
Published by: Oxford University Press, 2016

The book “So Near, Yet So Far: Badal Sircar’s Third Theatre ” chronicles the development of the praxis of Sircar’s theatre successfully bringing to the fore the contradictions within the notions of third theatre and the inconsistencies between theory and practice. The writer uses the historical, socio-political and cultural dimensions to understand the success and failures of Sircar’s venture.

“In The Third Theatre, Sircar shared the reason for embarking upon an alternative performance discourse: the concept of free theatre became a matter of attraction to him not because of the ‘poor’ Indian socio-economic conditions and unaffordable admission fees, but also for his belief in ‘equal status’ of the performers and the audience in theatre. As theatre is a ‘human act’, the audience–actor relationship ought to be ‘free’ and unaffected by exterior elements. The concept of the admission fee brings about a buying– selling relation between the audience and the performers, heightened by the difference of admission charges, and sitting arrangements in theatre halls, almost without any exception. Therefore, in pursuit of a ‘human act’, ‘free theatre’ was chosen to create a space for the spectators’ coming in and going out freely and voluntary donations, if they wished to contribute. (Page 186-87)