Development of Bengali Theatre

Rabindranath Tagore

" Theatre " came to Bengal from England about two hundred years ago via the early English traders and Colonial rulers of Kolkata.
There are many famous playwriters but without the name of Rabindranath Tagore Bengali theatre is incomplete. He is not only a playwriter or poet but he is father of all. As we all know that our national anthem "Jana Gana Mana " is written by him. It is not possible to assign him a particular place.
He wrote a large number of plays over a large period of time.
He allowed many of his plays to be staged in the professional theatres but generally disapproved of their ways.
Lastly, his own ideas changed over the years like other playwrights he had an early fascination for the theatre and had acted before he wrote his first play at the age of twenty.
He made his acting debut when he was sixteen in the lead role of an adaptation of Moliere's le Bourgeois Gentihomme by Jyotirindranath Tagore.

Rabindranath Tagore first public appearance as an actor was in his first published play Valmiki Pratibha, a musical based on the legendary author of the Ramayana.
When he was twenty he directed, produced and acted in many of the plays long and short,that he wrote.When he was seventy-five when he last appeared in "Sravan- Gatha" staged in 1935 at Shantiniketan, wherehe mostly stayed during the latter half of his life and where he staged many of his plays.

Some of his plays example Raja O Rani or Chirakumar Sabha had not proved popular during his lifetime in the Kolkata theatre.
He gone to see his own plays produced by others,but he was also known to have gone to times to witness a few plays of other playwrights.
Tagore wrote and set to music over two thousand lyrics and it was only natural that he should write operatic plays. His first play Valmiki Pratibha, written in 1881 belong to his genre.
Much later he wrote plays on seasons like    SeshVarsha,Basant,Rituranga and Sravan Gatha.
At the most it can be said that some of the thrust of Bengali minority theatres new directions in the post war and post independence periods was derived from Tagore's ideas and exhortations.
Please do like my blog and comment.
Thanks Banani

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History of Ghungroo

The Prominent Ornament of Classical dancer : Ghungroo apart from being the prominent ornament of classical dancers was also associated with courtesans who used to wear them while dancing. Ghun groo ,also known as Ghun groo , Ghunghar , Ghunghur , Salangai and Tinklebells . A musical leg piece or an anklet , Ghungroo sounds and weighs differently based on the composition and size.They have a dual purpose of providing music according to the beats and also all grace to the dance. Ghu ngroo caught the fascination of the royal women. However, a similar societal fear that they were associated with dancers. Hence they improvised the Ghungroo into something slicker known as "Payal". "Payal" was commonly worn amongst the royal women , particularly due to purdah, as the sound of the Payal would mark their presence. Ghungru has acquired a personality of their own through poetry, literature and cinema. Although Ghungroo have been traditionally worn by Bhar atanaty...
Read more

Samyukta Hasta Mudras

Double hand gestures Hastas or Hasta Mufras are an integral part of Bharatanatyam where stories are braught to life through intricate hand gestures combined with beautiful facial expressions and dynamic movements. There are 52 Hasta Mudras which are divided into 28 single hand gestures or Asamyukta Hastas and 24 double hand gestures or Samyukta Hastas . These gestures usually used to show various characters, emotions and relationship within a story. Every movement used in Bharatanatyam has a sanskrit name. Here in this blog I would like to share the Double hand ges tures or Samyukta Hasta Mufras with their meaning.         Mudras .                     Meani ng 1.    Anjali .                       Saluta tion 2....
Read more

BHAYANAKA & BIBHATSA RASA

Bhayanak  is the sanskrit name of one's  BHARATA'S  sons. Bhayanaka refers to the terrible sentiment  or in a very simple language it means  Psychological state of mind. Bhayanaka refers  to a specific glance (drishti). It expresses the terrible sentiment. There are total thirty six glances defined.The glance in which the eyelids are drawn up and fixed and the eyeballs are gleaming and turning up is called  Bhayanaka Rasa. BIBHATSA RASA Bibhatsa Rasa has the dominant state of disgust such as hearing of unpleasant  , offensive , harmful things  or seeing and discussing them. The color associated with the Bibhatsa is Blue  and the deity of the Bibhatsa  Rasa   or Sentiment  is MAHAKALA   (Shiva). Bibhatsa refers to a specific  glance in which the eyes are nearly covered by the eyelids  , the eyeballs are disturbed in disgust. These are the brief description of Rasas. I hope you like my blog. If you h...
Read more