Marathi theatre is theatre in the

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state o ...

, mostly originating or based in the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

in India, and elsewhere with Marathi

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

. Starting in the middle of the 19th century, it flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, it continues to have a marked presence in the State of

with a loyal audience base, when most theatre in other parts of India have had tough time facing the onslaught of cinema and television. Its repertoire ranges from humorous social plays,

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical humor; the use of deliberate absurdity o ...

s, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama of the 1970s onwards, by

Vijay Tendulkar Vijay Dhondopant Tendulkar (6 January 1928 – 19 May 2008) was a leading Indian playwright, movie and television writer, literary essayist, political journalist, and social commentator primarily in Marāthi. His Marathi plays established him as ...

, P. L. Deshpande,

Mahesh Elkunchwar Mahesh Elkunchwar (born 9 October 1939) is an Indian playwright and screenplay writer in Marathi language with more than 20 plays to his name, in addition to his theoretical writings, critical works, and his active work in India's ''Parallel Cin ...

and

Satish Alekar Satish Vasant Alekar (born 30 January 1949) is a Marathi playwright, actor, and theatre director. A founder member of the Theatre Academy of Pune, and most known for his plays ''Mahanirvan'' (1974), ''Mahapoor'' (1975), ''Atirekee'' (1990), ''Pi ...

, which have influenced theatre throughout India. In the post- independence era, Bengali theatre, and Marathi theatre have been at the forefront of innovations and significant

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Lessing composed th ...

Indian theatre Theatre of India is one of the most ancient forms of theatre and it features a detailed textual, sculptural, and dramatic effects which emerged in mid first millennium BC. Like in the areas of music and dance, the Indian theatre is also defin ...

History

Ancient and medieval period

The region of Maharashtra, has had long theatrical tradition, one of the early references is found in the cave inscriptions at

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nash ...

by Gautami Balashri, the mother of 1st-century

Satavahana The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the l ...

ruler,

Gautamiputra Satakarni Gautamiputra Satakarni (Brahmi: 𑀕𑁄𑀢𑀫𑀺𑀧𑀼𑀢 𑀲𑀸𑀢𑀓𑀡𑀺, ''Gotamiputa Sātakaṇi'', IAST: ) was a ruler of the Satavahana Empire in present-day Deccan region of India. He was mentioned as the important an ...

. The inscription mention him organizing Utsava and Samaja forms of theatrical entertainment for his subjects. Varadpande, p. 163 There are sources mentioning plays from 17th-century like ''Lakshmaikalyanam,'' and ''Ganga-Kaveri Samvad, '' in the Marathi-language staged for the Bhosale ruler of

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...

in present-day

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

state. However, these were plays performed in the royal court.

British colonial period

The first public performance of a stage play in Marathi was ''Sita Swayamvar'' (Marriage of

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

) by Vishnudas Bhave, based on a popular episode of the epic

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

. Staged in 1843 in

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...

, with ruler of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

in audience, it was an experimental play, based on folk theatre form called

Yakshagana Yakshagaana is a traditional theatre, developed in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and western parts of Chikmagalur districts, in the state of Karnataka and in Kasaragod district in Kerala that combines dance, music, dialogue, ...

from the neighbouring

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

region. After the success of his play, he staged many more plays about other episodes of Ramayana. His plays were largely influenced by the

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

theatres. Bhave went on to form a travelling theatre troupe. Datta, p. 1087 The coming decades saw notable plays like ''Jhansichya Raniche Naatak'' (1870), ''Sawai Madhavravancha Mrutyu'' (1871), ''AfjhalKhanachya Mrutyuche Naatak'' (1871) and ''Malharrav Maharaj'' (1875). However, Marathi stage took a distinct theatre form with the musical ''Shakuntal'' by Annasaheb Kirloskar in 1880,based on a classical work, Abhijnanasakuntalam by

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and t ...

.The success of his theatre company, ''Kirloskar Natya Mandali'' paved way for commercial repertories in Marathi theatre, and subsequently the formation of ''Natak Companies''. The early period of Marathi theatre was dominated by playwrights like Kolhatkar, Krushnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar, Govind Ballal Deval,

Ram Ganesh Gadkari Ram Ganesh Gadkari (26 May 1885 – 23 January 1919) was a Marathi poet, playwright, and humorist from Bombay Presidency, India. Ram Ganesh Gadkari was one of the writers the in new age transformation in Marathi literature. He wrote poetry und ...

and Annasaheb Kirloskar who enriched the Marathi theatre for about half a century with excellent musical plays known as

Sangeet Natak ''Sangeet Natak'' in Marathi language literally means Musical Drama. As the name suggests, this form of drama combines prose as well as poetry in form of songs to convey the story. In a manner, they are very much similar to Musicals. ''Sangee ...

. The genre of music used in such plays is known as Natya Sangeet. It is during this era of the Marathi theatre that great singer-actors like Bal Gandharva,

Keshavrao Bhole Keshav Vaman Bhole ( mr, केशव वामन भोळे, 23 May 1896 – 1967), also known as Keshavrao Bhole, was a well-known music composer and critic in Indian cinema. He was the founder of a theatrical company called Natya-Manvanta ...

, Bhaurao Kolhatkar and Deenanath Mangeshkar thrived.

Post-independence period

In the second half of the 20th century, some theatre practitioners have incorporated the traditional forms like tamasha and dashavatar into their plays. In the 1970s, the tamasha form was employed as narrative device and style in several notable plays like ''

Ghashiram Kotwal '' Kotwal'' is a Marathi play written by playwright Vijay Tendulkar in 1972 as a response to the rise of a local political party, in Maharashtra. The play is a political satire, written as historical drama. It is based on the life of Nana Phadnav ...

'' by

Vijaya Mehta Vijaya Mehta (born 4 November 1934), is a noted Indian Marathi film and theatre director and also an actor in many films from the Parallel Cinema. She is a founder member of Mumbai-based theatre group, Rangayan with playwright Vijay Tendulkar ...

's Marathi adaptations of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's ''

The Good Woman of Setzuan ''The Good Person of Szechwan'' (german: Der gute Mensch von Sezuan, first translated less literally as ''The Good Man of Setzuan'') is a play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Berla ...

'' as ''Devajine Karuna Keli'' (1972) and '' Caucasian Chalk Circle'' as ''Ajab Nyaya Vartulacha'' (1974), P. L. Deshpande's ''Teen paishacha Tamasha'' (1978), an adaptation of Brecht's ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a " play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with mu ...

''. Mehta also adapted and Ionesco with ''

Chairs A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vari ...

''. Dharwadker, p. 314 Varyavarchi Varat" the most famous and comedy play written by "Pu.la.Deshpande" and also this play is still in theaters with new cast & crew . Although the characters created by Pu.La. were fictional many people still relate to them.

Marathi Rangabhoomi Din

5 November is Celebrated as "Marathi Rangabhoomi Din".

Bibliography

* * * *

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

History of Marathi theatreFor grants, get a good grade
{{Theatre Theatre in India T Culture of Pune Culture of Mumbai