South African Indian Drama

South African Indian Drama' explores plays written by Indians in South Africa. South African Indian playwrighting is rich both in quantity as well as in quality. Playwrights like Ronnie Govender, Muthal Naidoo, Kessie Govender, Kriben Pillay, Rajesh Gopie, Ashwin Singh and Ismail Mahomed have experimented with the stage space as well as themes. Their plays reflect the predicament of the Indians living in South Africa for more than 150 years. Many of them, in fact, are awarded for writing plays and exposing various issues concerning the Indians. South Africa is a classic example of multiracial and multicultural existence. However, each race has its own problems and issues and therefore it is very important to understand each race in order to understand the multiplicity of the nation. Literature mirrors racial as well as national issues. Hence one can develop understanding of a specific race through literature produced by its own writers. South African Indian drama presents before readers the history of 150 years of existence of Indians in South Africa, the community's problems, its relations with other races and its commitment and concern for the growth of the nation. These plays are written in two broad historical epochs: one, plays written during apartheid and, second, plays written after apartheid was removed, in the free nation. Of course, many plays which were written during the apartheid remained limited merely to performance as the playwrights of that time had an immediate task at hand, that of protest against unjust racial discrimination. It seems it may not be possible to publish all these unpublished plays as the time they address to in their plays has already passed and so none perhaps would be interested in reading them. The present book critiques only those plays which are available in print. The book also narrates the history of Indian settlement and growth and development of Indian drama. The contemporary playwrighting by Indians in South Africa is very interesting. These plays reflect discontent of the playwrights over the contemporary socio-political scenario. The immediate and pressing issues seem to be sacrificed over unethical power-politics by the people in power. Issues of locating the self in the mixing of races and problems arising out of it are discussed in these plays. The present book analyses all the plays in the chronology of their publication.

• | Author: Pranav Joshipura
• | Publisher: Independently Published
• | Publication Date: Aug 03, 2019
• | Number of Pages: 453 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1082211346
• | ISBN-13: 9781082211348