K.N. Panikkar: The Theatre of Rasa

Kavalam Narayana Panikkar is one of India’s most revered theatre directors. He has been writing and directing plays for the last four decades and even today, remains as energetic and as creative as ever. Panikkar’s involvement with theatre began with him writing poetry and plays. Gradually he began directing plays himself. This was the beginning of a significant career as a theatre director who found new ways of relating to existing traditions. Panikkar’s contemporaneity lies in his continual experimentation and innovation within the broader framework of Indian ways of doing theatre. In this way, his theatre is in constant dialogue with the folk (deshi) and classical (margi) traditions of performing art in India. K.N. Panikkar: The Theatre of Rasa goes deeper into the styles and sources of Panikkar’s theatre. It includes essays by some of India’s finest theatre writers and thinkers, as well as a long conversation with this master theatre director and a detailed discussion on the production of Ottayan, one his renowned plays. This book will give an insight into not only the theatre of K.N. Panikkar, but into theatre as an art form within a broader framework.

Edited by Udayan Vajpeyi

Udayan Vajpeyi is a Hindi poet, translator, essayist, short fiction and script writer. He has received various awards including a Senior Fellowship from the Government of India.