Undoing Gender: Contemporary Women Theatre Makers in India

Abstract

This paper draws a framework outlining performance methods and processes within women’s theatre in twenty-first century India, along with a conceptualisation of its objectives and aesthetics, by focusing on the politics and production processes of three contemporary women theatre creators in India – Maya Krishna Rao, Mallika Taneja, and Savita Rani. It analyses the themes, theatrical languages, production techniques, styles, acting, and production and performance settings of the three woman theatre makers, contextualising the emergence and development of feminist theatre in India. It aims to understand how these performers and directors create and re/present women and their issues in relation to gender, culture, and society in India and beyond. Drawing from Elain Aston’s analysis of feminist aesthetics in theatre, this paper seeks to unravel the feminist politics of structural changes that have taken place in the three contemporary women theatre makers.