The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre

The marginalization of Indian theatre in recent times due to the influence of film and television, and a lack of archival evidence have resulted in few critical explorations of the subject. The difficulty in collecting authentic theatrical data from the different linguistic traditions in India has exacerbated this trend. In recent times, however, enough work on local and regional theatre has emerged to allow us to tap individual documentation and knowledge to create this pioneering, authoritative, and collective resource. The Oxford Companion to Indian Theatre is the first reference work embracing both rural and urban modes of Indian theatre spanning its entire history of over 2000 years. This accessible and comprehensive volume consists of 750 entries encompassing forms and personalities across India geographically and historically, in twenty-two languages, according to their contribution to the tradition. Splendidly illustrated, it includes around 270 black and white illustrations that complement the entries written by specialists and luminaries of the Indian theatre scene. In keeping with the highest standards of international reference publishing, the editor has compiled and edited this material from 63 contributors. The theatre defined here spans not just conventional proscenium drama, and devotional and secular rural performing genres, but also musical forms such as Kirtan, dance theatre such as Kathakali, and oral narrative such as Katha Kalakshepam, all of which contain theatre’s most fundamental element: acting. The companion has three broad types of entries: the general, offering a conceptual analysis of a wide canvas on topics such as cinema, dance, marital arts, mime, music, puppetry, ritual, and theory. The second consists of longer overviews according to linguistic regions, for example Punjabi theatre or Marathi theatre. The third category mainly covers brief, factual entries about important individuals, groups, organizations, and movements. The Companion is meant for a general readership across the world, along with all those involved in the field of theatre, as well as researchers and students, for whom detailed bibliographies have been included.