Thesis Format

Monograph

CIVILIZING THE STAGE: Reform and Theatrical Aesthetics in Colonial Western India (1850-1914)

Author

Abhimanyu Acharya, The University of Western OntarioFollow

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Comparative Literature

Supervisor

Bhatia, Nandi

Abstract

This dissertation examines Gujarati theatre as it operated in Colonial Western India between 1850 and 1914. The period specified above is termed the age of reform as large-scale transformations took place in Western India including the formation of the public sphere, the foundation of institutes for higher education, the arrival of print technology, social and religious reforms, and the construction of playhouses for commercial theatre activity. In this dissertation, I argue that the reformist movement and aesthetics of Gujarati theatre were mutually constitutive. In other words, the aesthetics of Gujarati theatre emerged out of a larger reform movement, and in turn, those same aesthetics were put in service to further consolidate reformist ideas. I define aesthetics in its broadest sense, ranging from the formal, linguistic, and structural elements of drama to the more mechanical stage apparatus like props and scenery, curtains, costumes and make-up, and even narrative techniques like characterization and modes of expression. I show that the aesthetics of theatre became a politically charged site in colonial Western India where complex socio-political ideologies were imposed such that theatrical aesthetics became a battleground to assert, challenge, subvert and consolidate regional, folk, nationalist, caste, and gendered identities. Through an examination of the aesthetics, the dissertation hopes to show that the Gujarati theatre makers in colonial Western India were as interested in exploring and defining novel stage practices as they were in reformist content. I examine the following five different phenomena, each a symptom of a larger reformist movement, to support my central argument: the emergence of the reformist Gujarati public sphere formed by print media and theatre, the consolidation of a ‘regional’ Hindu Gujarati theatre against an overpowering, ‘national’ tradition of Parsi theatre, the competing impulses of reform and cultural revivalism as evident in the use of supernatural aesthetic elements on stage, the establishment of ‘modern but modest’ ideal Indian womanhood on stage through aesthetic strategies, and lastly, the simultaneous appropriation and marginalization of the Gujarati folk theatre form of Bhavai due to caste politics.

Summary for Lay Audience

This dissertation examines Gujarati theatre as it operated in Colonial Western India between 1850 and 1914. The period specified above is termed the age of reform as large-scale transformations took place in Western India including the formation of the public sphere, the foundation of institutes for higher education, the arrival of print technology, social and religious reforms, and the construction of playhouses for commercial theatre activity. In this dissertation, I argue that the reformist movement and aesthetics of Gujarati theatre were mutually constitutive. In other words, the aesthetics of Gujarati theatre emerged out of a larger reform movement, and in turn, those same aesthetics were put in service to further consolidate reformist ideas. I define aesthetics in its broadest sense, ranging from the formal, linguistic, and structural elements of drama to the more mechanical stage apparatus like props and scenery, curtains, costumes and make-up, and even narrative techniques like characterization and modes of expression. I show that the aesthetics of theatre became a politically charged site in colonial Western India where complex socio-political ideologies were imposed such that theatrical aesthetics became a battleground to assert, challenge, subvert and consolidate regional, folk, nationalist, caste, and gendered identities. Through an examination of the aesthetics, the dissertation hopes to show that the Gujarati theatre makers in colonial Western India were as interested in exploring and defining novel stage practices as they were in reformist content. I examine the following five different phenomena, each a symptom of a larger reformist movement, to support my central argument: the emergence of the reformist Gujarati public sphere formed by print media and theatre, the consolidation of a ‘regional’ Hindu Gujarati theatre against an overpowering, ‘national’ tradition of Parsi theatre, the competing impulses of reform and cultural revivalism as evident in the use of supernatural aesthetic elements on stage, the establishment of ‘modern but modest’ ideal Indian womanhood on stage through aesthetic strategies, and lastly, the simultaneous appropriation and marginalization of the Gujarati folk theatre form of Bhavai due to caste politics.

Recommended Citation

Acharya, Abhimanyu, "CIVILIZING THE STAGE: Reform and Theatrical Aesthetics in Colonial Western India (1850-1914)" (2023). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 9220.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/9220