BOOK REVIEWS The Play is the Thing: thar Tendulkar's works have enjoyed since the rt::l<ilI°=:::C::C!ll::l:lI. Sri Ram r"emorial 1970,. Lecture,X The lecture is marked by Tendulkars simple, VijayTendulkar direct and lucid style of SriRamCentrelor PerformingArts, speaking andwriting. H~ Delhi,1997 makes itquiteclear atthe outsetthatheisnot about 36pages(paperback) toholdforthonhowplays price not mentioned shouldbewrittenbuton howhehaswnucnhis. In the process, he hopes the audience willget Vijay Tendulkar has seldom spoken about his "aninsideviewofthemedium withitspeculiar work.Heis,byhisownadmission.aninveterate intricacies". His observation of himself as a observerofhumanbeings.Heisalso,bygeneral practitionerofthecraftisempirical.unaidedby consent, an observer who wears a permanent. either a universally accepted or individually almostbuilt-inguard againstbeingobserved. evolved theory. He holds no discourse with Unlike other major playwrights of the: other practitioners either within the' country or ~1a.r~Uhisf~gewhohave:writtenlongprefacesto outside. their published plays, elucidating their social Tendulkar'sdirectnesshelpsonetailorone's an~ aesthetic concerns. and the processes by expectationstohisdeclaredscope. whichishis which those works were written, Tendulkat own practice and. within thai, his own allowshisplays tobepublished largelywithout perceptionofwhataplaywrigbris."Asr-:rmy comment. definition",hesays,"ap13)wrighti!'ionewhois AlsoOOICv.:Qrttlyisthefactthatheistheonly willing to devote his prime years 10 learn and playwrightwho hasnotbeen(perhapsrefusedto internalise this demanding art and use it to be) interviewed for Sangeet Natak Akadcmi's unravel the mysteries of human mind and pU~licalion Contemporary Indian Theatre, human existence." Byinference, his idea of a whichotherwise carried interviews withallthe playisadramaticworkwhichprobesandopens playwrights and directors whose works were up thesetwin mysteries 10 make the audience staged in the: Nehru Shatabdi Natva Samaroh n:oreawareofitself. held inDelhiin 1989. J It is against this background that one Ifthissoundslikeageneralization,oneneed only Jay th~ definition over all of Tendulkar's welcomesthe publication of the tenth Sri Ram ~~~moria1 Lecture delivered in Iwo parts by workstoseehowwenitcoversthem,asalso10 see how completely it e,;c1udes the works of VIJay Tendulkarunder the title ThePIa)'isthe Thing.The booklet will fill a much rearened playwrightS like Badal Sircar, Girish Kamad and KavalamPanikkar.ltisahold-alldefinition lacunainthetheatrestudent's library. Beinein En•grIS'h•I'twi.ll alsohavethecountrywidereeach forrealisticplaywrightswhichboastsIbsenand Sangwfl'atat No. 123 January- March 1997 46 SHAi'oTAGOKHALE Tendulkarhas been credited with changing Chekhov at one end and. at the other. those the language of Marathi drama from its scores of playwrights all over the world who have. under pretext of exploring the human erstwhile literary/melodramatic cadences to mind and human existence. written drama that realistic speech patterns. He himself attributes has merely exploited the self-obsession of the the range and texture of his language to his middle-classtoprovideasicklycatharsisforits talent for picking up and retaining the speech variouscomplexes. patternsofpeopleheencountersinhisdailylife. Tendulkar has not touched either end quite Once recorded. retrieval comes automatically completely in anyofhis works though he has with need. come near 10 doing so. But history and While Tendulkar's observations on circumstances combined with his own special characterization do not rise above the sk.iIIshave made him the pioneerofrealism in axiomatic-eharacters (ina realistic play) must Marathi theatre. Emerging on the scene at the nOIbe puppetsbUIflesh-and-bloodpeople-his beginning of the latter half of the 1950s in a discussion of structure yields some pointsof 'new theatre' movement propelled by the interest. More or less admitting that hisearlier patronage offered to young theatre enthusiasts plays are marred by structural deficiencies, he by theMumbaiMarathiSahityaSangh and the revealsthe measureshehastakentounderstand Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai, he learned structureand howitworks. hiscraftonthejob, sotosay. Heundertook two exercises-one practical This much and the unfolding of his career and one experiential. He would see bad plays, later are facts recorded in the history of identify their structural defects, and rewrite contemporary Marathi theatre. What is nor themmentallytoamendthem.Thisgavehiman generally known, however,are the antecedents immediate understanding of what worked and leading up to his emergence on the theatre what didn't. In the longer term, he opened scene. He describes these vividly in his first himselftoexperiencingotherartformstomake lecture. devoted to a discussion of himselfaware ofhow theywere structured.He characterizationandstructureinhisplays. hasbeenanavid listenerofHindustanimusic,a Tracinghisinterestintheatretohisboyhood regularvisitortoartgalleriesand, inthesixties, days, he talks about the rehearsals and loved to watch wrestling bouts. He assertsthat performancesofamateurproductions which he these experiences have given him a grip00 gotto see because his fatherandolder brother dramaticstructure. were involved in them. Those were the days The concluding part of the second lecrurt when males still played female roles. During brings Tendulkar to the tricky issue of the rehearsals.litthen bykerosenelanterns,hesaw relations between the playwright and director the actors as males with moustaches who and the play and its audience. The St3ternetll adoptedafemininegaitandmannerisms.Onthe '1111:: play is the thing' now produces the sub day of the performance, the same actors, question 'Theplayisexactly whatthing?' . costumed andmade up, would be transformed Likemostrealisticplaywrights,Tendulkar~ intostrangers. possessive of the meaning of his plays. This "After the performance", he continues, "I 'meaning' is largely conveyed through verbal would sneakbackstagetowatch theactorswho language.Whatissaidand howitissaidiswhat playedthefemalessmokebidisandchange into matters. He is therefore distrustful of directors their male clothes. The false breasts would who 'interpret' his plays. A play",right ~ COmeoffand a hairy chest would be exposed preventhis play becomingan "invisiblegh~ withoutanyinhibition...Ialwaysfeelthatthis that drags "its feet on the stage without bewg firstand repeatedexperienceofthe mystiqueof seenor fell" by making ittaut. ard theatre has something to do with my being However,what the playwrightcannot gu drawnto thetheatre:' against are the unexpected interpretations the BOOKREVIEWS ~7 audience foists on his work. 1n the ultimate for the Ford Foundation. ParroilS& ' analysis, then. the playwrightis forcedtoadmit an instuution which has Philistines that the play is that thing which the audience functioned as a major .....-.,......."..... _~ makesofit! funding agency for many projects and activities in SHM,TA GOKIIALE Ir.fia,a fact which addsa dimension to her Patrons & Philistines: perspective. Arts and the State The book has twelve in British India chapters devoted to jI...·tlM " various aspects of the theme. To provide a Pushpa Sundar foundation for a moredetailed enumeration of OxfordUniversity Press, Deihi, 1995 the cultural aspects the author discusses the interrelationship between culture and arts, the 294 pages (hardback), Rs495 background againstwhich the Britishappeared on the Indian scene, as also the renaissance Pushpa Sundar has produced a good study announcedbythenew learninginIndia.Thisis (which can also be used as a reference-work) followedbyaconsiderationofBritishviewsand aimed at assessing the effects of government actions in the fields of archaeology and policies and patronage on Indian arts during preservation. museums and libraries, tine arts British rule. As arts and culture are inherently andcrafts,theartsandnationalism,thecreation related. the range of the theme becomes ofnewmonuments,andontheperformingarts. relevant. Today. inspiteofrepeatedprofessions Even though the author has adminedly relied of modernity, democratic values. and an mainly 00 sources in English. the writing is increasingfocuson theCommonMan.weseem largely unbiased. to behave and believe in the Mahabharata The British authorities were obviously dictum 'raja katasya karanam' {i.e., the serious,thoughtfuland informed aboutamand monarch is the cause of the character of the culture. The book is full of references which times)! Looking up to government and bringoutthecomprehensiveBritishconcernfor governmentagenciesforsupport(patronageisa culture and arts in India. A warrior-governor badwordl)comesto usnaturally.Thereforethe (EJphinstone); an ambitious ruler (Warren studyofgovernmentpoliciesandactionsshould Hastings);anintelligent.prejudiced.butaction attract more nrtention than it does-especially oriented administrator (Curzon};or individuals inthesphereofcultureand artswhereso many connected moredirectlywiththeartsandcrafts aspectsareintangible.Inthisrespect,theBritish (Birdwood and Havell): directors of the East periodofIndianhistoryisespeciallyinstructive. India Company; British members of In social-cultural matters, it is the recent past parliament-all were intensely engaged in which is likely to be more relevant than the discussingpolicies,plans,laws,actions.aswell distant (Curzon is more relevant than asappointmentshavingabearingoneducation, ~harvaka!)Ouryesterdayscanbeofgreat help artsandcultureinIndia.IndologistsandBritish Indealing with the present and the future.The artists and thinkerswere also keen participants vogue of establishing associations, academies. inthedebates.ThisisthereasonwhytheBritish corporationsand autonomousbodiestowork in periodcreatesaresponseevenincontemporary arts and culture is. on the increase as also minds.Ofcoursethebook alsobringstonotice schemes and strategies of fundins them and the biases of British travellers. missionaries. diMributing privileges. Therefore i;is essential Company officials and. later, government to examine patronage, and the policies administrators or acad~micjans. But it must be responsible for shaping the sensibilities of grantedthatindifferencecould hardlyhavebred contemporary patrons. The author has worked prejudices! 48 ,\SHOKD.RAN,\DE Repeatedly,andinvaryingcontexts,Pushpa not succeed in carrying out their tasks of Sundar is at pains [0 point to one British philanthropic potentialities in spite of an characteristic:the Britishauthoritiescarriedout efficient government machinery, methodical theirpoliciesandprogrammesincultureandthe administration.aviewpointinspiredbythenew arts mainly because, both politically and education, liberal policies, and impressive administratively,itwasexpedienttodoso.The statements and promises. She notes some political superiority they enjoyed needed the Interesting reasons for the non-performance. supportof acuhural victory,and itwas to this Firstly.theBritishwere mainlymotivatedtoact end that they used lite weapon of culture- and by policies and ideals accepted and currentin arts-related policies. As will be pointed out England. Secondly. those laying down the later,this isarather simplified interpretanon of policiesandthoseactuallyexecutingrhemwere a more complex situation. However. some opposed 10 each other. A telling exampleisof examples the author has presented are the institutes setup to impart art-educationand noteworthy.TheBritishauthoritieswerekeento the Public Works Department which was collect samples of arts and crafts from various expected to provide employment to those regions. prepare monographs on them. and trained in these schools. Yet another was the arrange exhibitions of numerous artifacts in contradiction of holding exhibitions to London.Butthereasonwastheanxietytheyfelt encourage Indian artists and craftsmen and about the declining standards of British following this up with the open-market, free craftsmanship. and the motive was to provide trade policies which killed them. Thirdly, the Britishmanufacturerswithnewdesignsleading entire thinking was typically middle-class! to cheap mass-produced articles. This was Decisionsaboutwhat isbeautifulorobsceneor expectably to be followedby throwingopento moral were taken according to the thinking British manufacturers the vast and unprotected current in England. The most importantreason Indian market. It was decided to introduce was of course the superiority complex lhe modemeducationintheartsandarchitectureby British suffered from. 'Everything Indian is creating new institutions, but the aim was to inferior and we can undoubtedly improve ii' ensurean easy supplyof subordinate labourto was the basic premise for the rulers' policies '0 buildmonumentsfit symbo1ize thestatusof andactions.Where valuesaretobeappreciated the rulers! An entire network of educational and assessed. such easy and sweeping bodieswassought(0beestablishedatalllevels. generalizationscan hardly help asaguideline. education was to be thrown open-but the Firm. and yet without uncalled-for intention was10 putinto positiondocile flocks aggressiveness-suchisthetenorofthewriting. of clerical personnel essential to rule over the All of us today are products of the British vast, multilingual. multiracial, multireligious, heritage. and it is not easy to be categorical and largely illiterate country! Many other when referring to a heritage. Fortunately. the instances are noted and documented-c-but the authorisawareofthedangersofculturalshort conclusion is the same. Questions about \he sightednessreflectedin afor-or-againstkindof nature. necessity. and value of arts or culture presentation. It is not true to say that looking (and the Ihiokiag about how to impart training back is wasteful. especially when the lnd~an in them. to whom, whenand why) wereraised nation has completed fifty years--a duranon and answered by the British authorities who insignificantin the life-spanofanation. . were power-conscious, politically motivated Andyetitmustbestatedthattheauthorfalls and administratively inspired! The evidence to do full justice to the culturally complex gathered by the author is 'factual', and it also phenomenon of the Indo-British traffic of supportssimilarviewsheldbymanyothers.Itis influences viewed in totality.The periodn~ certainlythought-provoking. examination from many differenl angles. ItIS The writer isconvinced that the British did nor enough to examine the motives of the BOOKREVIEWS 49 'givers' alone, as the 'takers' are equally toperceivethe performingreality. responsibleinculturaljuxtapositions. The point is that, during the process of It is interesting to note that various regions extending support, the 'givers' underwent and communities in india were influenced by changes. No analysis of the essentially the British according to their own cultural relational act of patronage can be complete dynamics.TheParsis,forinstance,respondedto unless such happenings 'along the road' art the new patronage differently than Hindus or accounted for. Perhaps it may also be added Muslims.Further, whileevaluatingeffects, itis that,trulyspeaking,onlythePortugueseandthe imperative in India to attend to w'ritings in British were the 'rear foreign powers. These regional languages. Writings in regional two need to be compared and not theMughals languages during the nineteenth century (for and the British-because in the final, cultural, instance in Mamthi and Bengali) were often analysistheMughalscanhardlybedescribedas criticalof the government's interest in culture. aliens! IfSundarcould haveprobeddeeperinto They showed awareness of the possible harm theevolutionary stagesofrulers'support toam. that may come to the arts and advocated and culture in India, she would have realized strategic use of British patronage instead of that the British support system failed mainly submissive or blind acceptance. Most because it meantanegation of thedana model importantly (especially in the context of developed in India over centuries. The British Sundar's focus on culture), it is necessary to rulers sought to replace the model with a note that performing arts, and within the triad systematicculturalbarter. music,elicitedadifferentkind ofresponsefrom Toconclude,thewritercanbecreditedwith the British. As I have argued elsewhere, even having reopened a debate which needs [0 be though the initial British response to Indian continued-especiaJIywhentheideaofcultural musicwas 'orientalist', it soongave way to an sponsorship isintheascendancy! indoJogist (and a welcome) deviant viewpoint which,intum,appliedanotherself-correctionto clearthedecksforan ethnomusicological angle ASIIOKD.RASADE