‘Plays Of Bhasa As The Emblem Of Re-Defining/Re-Writing Of The Myths’

Abstract

The dramatic practice in India is markedly different from that in the West because unlike the Western, which mostly depends on the realistic techniques, Indian theatre is non-illusionistic and formalistic. Indian drama draws heavily on classical and primitive mythologies for its theme. The audience in India favours a theatre which incorporates all the elements of dramatic art. In other words, it incorporates tauryatrika-geeta or vocal music, nrtta or dance and vaadya or rhythmical accompaniment. Western drama chiefly focuses on the effective delivery of dialogues; so text in the western approach holds primary importance whereas the Indian Sanskrit drama is found more oriented towards characters’ improvisation, vocal and/or gestural expressions supplemented by the appropriate movements of the face and other parts of the body as well as by musical accompaniment. Thus, it is a stylized mode of theatre which caters to an idealized audience.