Early Urdu Theatre: Traditions and Transformations - By Mahtab Bashir
Department of Theatre, National College of Arts (NCA) Rawalpindi Campus, in collaboration with Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and Higher Education Commission (HEC) arranged a lecture on ‘Indar Sabha (the first play of the Urdu theatre by renowned Russian scholar Dr Anna Suvorova at National Art Gallery (NAG) on Thursday.
Suvorova said Urdu theatre was born in Lucknow, the capital of the kingdom of Awadh. “The Nawabs of Awadh strove to compete with the Mughal rulers of Delhi in splendour and magnificence of their court and capital. For a long time the Nawabs were seen as vassals to the Mughals yet in mid 19th century with the support from the East India Company they gained independence from Delhi proclaiming themselves kings and setting their claim to become the major Muslim dynasty in South Asia,” she explained.She said the most ancient kind of theatrical performance in Awadh was ‘Bhagat,’ dating back to 16th century. “It used to be performed by vagrant Kashmiri histrionic groups of Bhands. From the beginning of the 17th century, Bhands became essential element in courts’ everyday life. They used to perform both serious plays and farce improvisations. Such combination of the lofty and comic went onto influence the South Asian theatre repertoire for coming centuries,” Suvorova said, adding, Rasleela-dance drama based on the episode from the life of Krishna was another popular form of performance.
Early Urdu Theatre: Traditions and Transformations
Suvorova said Urdu theatre was born in Lucknow, the capital of the kingdom of Awadh. “The Nawabs of Awadh strove to compete with the Mughal rulers of Delhi in splendour and magnificence of their court and capital. For a long time the Nawabs were seen as vassals to the Mughals yet in mid 19th century with the support from the East India Company they gained independence from Delhi proclaiming themselves kings and setting their claim to become the major Muslim dynasty in South Asia,” she explained.She said the most ancient kind of theatrical performance in Awadh was ‘Bhagat,’ dating back to 16th century. “It used to be performed by vagrant Kashmiri histrionic groups of Bhands. From the beginning of the 17th century, Bhands became essential element in courts’ everyday life. They used to perform both serious plays and farce improvisations. Such combination of the lofty and comic went onto influence the South Asian theatre repertoire for coming centuries,” Suvorova said, adding, Rasleela-dance drama based on the episode from the life of Krishna was another popular form of performance.
Early Urdu Theatre: Traditions and Transformations
posted by temporal at 3/20/2009
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