Crossings with Jatra: Bengali Folk-theatre Elements in a Transcultural Representation of Lady Macbeth

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.23.06

Keywords:

Jatra, Lady Macbeth, Vaishnavism, Shakespeare adaptations, Crossings by Vikram Iyenger

Abstract

This paper examines a transcultural dance-theatre focusing on Lady Macbeth, through the lens of eastern Indian Bengali folk-theatre tradition, jatra. The wide range of experimentation with Shakespeare notwithstanding, the idea of an all-female representation is often considered a travesty. Only a few such explorations have earned recognition in contemporary times. One such is the Indian theatre-dance production Crossings: Exploring the facets of Lady Macbeth by Vikram Iyenger, first performed in 2004. Four women representing four facets of Lady Macbeth explore the layered nuances that constitute her through the medium of Indian classical dance and music juxtaposed with Shakespearean dialogues from Macbeth. This paper will argue the possibilities posited by this transgressive re-reading of a major Shakespearean tragedy by concentrating on a possible understanding through a Hindu religious sect —Vaishnavism, as embodied through the medium of jatra. To form a radically new stage narrative in order to bring into focus the dilemma and claustrophobia of Lady Macbeth is perhaps the beginning of a new generation of Shakespeare explorations. Iyenger’s production not only dramatizes the tragedy of Lady Macbeth through folk dramatic tradition, dance and music, but also Indianises it with associations drawn from Indian mythological women like Putana (demoness) and Shakti (sacred feminine).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Aabrita Dutta Gupta, Bankura University, Department of English, Bankura, West Bengal, India

Aabrita Dutta Gupta is a researcher on Shakespeare in the Indian academia as a Doctoral fellow from the Department of English, Bankura University, West Bengal, India. She completed her M.Phil degree on Shakespeare and the Renaissance from the Department of English and Culture Studies, Universty of Burdwan, West Bnegal, India. Her research interests include Shakespeare and the Renaissance and Shakespeare in the global arena. Her other interests lie in the study of world art and architecture. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5808-3206

References

“Binodini Dasi”. Women Writing in India. Volume I: 600 B.C. to the Early Twentieth Century. The Feminist Press. Ed. Susie J. and K. Lalita Tharu. New York: The Feminist Press, 1991: 290-296.
Google Scholar

Bhaktivedanta, Swami Prabhupada. The Original Teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. n.d. 21 Dec 2020. https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/madhya/6/163?d=1 https://prabhupadabooks.com/cc/madhya/20/108-109
Google Scholar

Biography of Sri Ramakrishna. n.d. 10 Dec 2020. https://www.publishyourarticles.net/knowledge-hub/biography/biography-of-sri-ramakrishna/3950/
Google Scholar

Carroll. William C., “The Fiendlike Queen: Recuperating Lady Macbeth in Contemporary Adaptations of Macbeth,” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation 8.2 (2014). http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/
Google Scholar

Chakravarti, Paromita and Swati Ganguly. “‘Dancing like a Man’: The Politics of gender and cultural hybridity in Crossings.” n.d. 1 March 2019.
Google Scholar

Crossings: Facets of Lady Macbeth. Dir. Vikram Iyenger. Perf. Anubha and Dana Roy, Debashree Bhattacharya et al. Fatehpuria. Gyan Mancha, Kolkata. 2016.
Google Scholar

Dasgupta, Surendranath. History of Indian Philosophy. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922.
Google Scholar

Dey, Naina. “Utpal Dutt and Macbeth Translated.” In Performing Shakespeare in India: Exploring Indianness, Literatures and Cultures. Ed. Panja, Shormishtha and Babli Moitra Saraf. New Delhi: Sage Publications India, 2016.
Google Scholar

Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava. Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India since 1947: Studies in Theatre History and Culture. Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2005.
Google Scholar

Eliot, Thomas Stearns. “The Waste Land.” 1922. POETRY FOUNDATION. 15 Dec 2020. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land
Google Scholar

Goswami, Srila Sukadeva. “Deliverance of Putana.” Nityaà Bhägavata-Sevayä 43 (2016). 15 Dec 2020. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=jvThDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Google Scholar

Hansen, Kathryn. “Indian Folk Traditions and the Modern Theatre.” Asian Folklore Studies 42.1 (1983). 23 Dec 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178367
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1178367

Kapoor, O.B.L. The Philosophy and Religion of Sri Caitanya: The Philosophical Background of the Hare Krishna Movement. New Delhi: Munshilal Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 1976.
Google Scholar

Kennedy, Melville T. The Chaitanya movement : A Study of the Vaishṇavism of Bengal. Calcutta: Association Press, 1925.
Google Scholar

Massey, Reginald. India’s Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire. New Delhi, 2004.
Google Scholar

Muni, Bharata. The Natyasastra. Trans. Manomohan Ghosh. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1951.
Google Scholar

O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythological Beasts. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Google Scholar

Panja, Shormishtha and Babli Moitra Saraf. Performing Shakespeare in India: Exploring Indianness, Literatures and Cultures. New Delhi: Sage India Publications, 2016.
Google Scholar

Saha, Sharmistha. Theatre and National Identity in Colonial India: Formation of a Community through Cultural Practice. Singapore: Springer, 2018.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1177-2

Sarkar, Pabitra. “Jatra: The Popular Traditional Theatre Of Bengal.” Journal of South Asian Literature 10.2/4 (1975). 23 Dec 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40871932
Google Scholar

Schwartz, Susan. Rasa: Performing the Divine in India. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Google Scholar

Sen, Rai Bahadur Dinesh Chandra. Chaitanya and His Age: Ramtanu Lahiri Fellowship Lectures. Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1922.
Google Scholar

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. Sandra Clark and Pamela Mason. London: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, 2015. (All quotations from Macbeth are from this edition.)
Google Scholar

Trivedi, Poonam. “‘Folk Shakespeare’: The Performane of Shakespeare in Traditional Indian Theatre Forms.” In India’s Shakespeare: Translation, Interpretation, and Performance. Ed. Poonam Trivedi and Dennis Bartholomeusz. University of Delaware Press, 2006.
Google Scholar

Trivedi, Poonam. “Garrison Theatre in Colonial India: Issues of Valuation.” In Theatre History and Historiography: Ethics, Evidence and Truth. Ed. Claire and Jo Robinson Cochrane. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Google Scholar

Williams, Monier. “Nritya”. Sanskrit English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1899.
Google Scholar

Downloads

Published

2021-06-30

How to Cite

Dutta Gupta, A. (2021). Crossings with Jatra: Bengali Folk-theatre Elements in a Transcultural Representation of Lady Macbeth. Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance, 23(38), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-8530.23.06

Issue

Section

Articles

Similar Articles

<< < 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.