Thespian who stretched limits of Indian stage

Ratan Thiyam, one of modern Indian theatre's most influential directors and the founder-director of Chorus Repertory Theatre in Manipur, passed away in the early hours of July 23 in Imphal.

- Vikram Phukan

He was 77.

Over five decades, he shaped a theatre of discipline and immersion, where visual precision met a deep faith in the actor's body and its possibilities. Productions like Chakravyuh, Andha Yug, Uttar Priyadarshi, Lengshonnei, and Lairembigee Eshe were more than adaptations of familiar epic narratives. In Thiyam’s hands, they became orchestrated acts of endurance, where time stretched and performance brushed against ritual. In doing so, he transformed the Indian stage’s relationship to time, movement, and scale.

Thiyam graduated from the National School of Drama in 1974, the first ever from Manipur to do so, alongside peers such as Rohini Hattangadi and Rajesh Vivek. In 1976, he returned to Manipur to set up Chorus on the outskirts of Imphal, on a quiet stretch of land bordered by paddy fields, red earth, and the open sky.