The Theatrical Cosmos of Bratya Basu

Contemporary global playwrights capitalize historical, political, mythological, and ecological settings as part of their aesthetic approaches, making powerful theatrical use of the past in the purview of the present situations.

- JAYDEEP SARANGI

We may mention some of them in the global scene who use these techniques to the maximum: Lucy Kirkwood, a British playwright; Cordelia Lynn, a London-based playwright; and Samuel Adamson, an Adelaide-born Australian playwright now anchored in London.

Contemporary socially committed playwrights explore the cultural impact of theatre, the use of various performance spaces, and the task of theatre in shaping communities and narratives of the state. The planning of forty-two essays by the editor Arnab Saha in Bratya Abikalpo Natyapurush is so precise that even for an initiated reader, curiosity runs high. Bratya Basu's theatrical motivation is righteousness and protecting the weak, innocent, and marginalized.

An academic trained in Bengali aesthetics for theatre, Bratya Basu's writings focus on emerging political fantasy, fuzzy tales of history, human-non-human relationships, the interface between music and gross human life, ethical aspects of life and the fall of ethical standards, the dissension between love and riot, moral and immoral principles, and the crossing over between time and cultural ethos. Coupling the critically incisive eye of an academic with the emotive directness of a dramatist, the volume's essays provide wonderful introductions to the works reviewed by esteemed academicians and writers.

Bratya Basu announced his arrival as a dramatist with the play Ashaleen (1996), and immediately he caught the attention of Bengali theatregoers. Bengali intelligentsia liked his themes, close to their hearts, and his style, which provided a delightful theatrical experience. Bratya Basu's significant plays include Aranyadeb, Shahar Yaar, Virus-M, Winkle-Twinkle, etc. His other important plays are Ruddhasangeet, Chatushkon, Hemlat - The Prince of Garanhata, Krishna Gahobar, Sateroi July, Bikele Bhorer Sorshey Phool, Supari Killer,