Critical Dramaturgy
In a sense, critiques feed on the corpses of creative writings. Therefore, there is no dearth of critiques of the critiques. But in another sense criticism opens up a new dimension, a new perspective, and/or, if it does not sound too ambitious, creates a new outlook to creative writing.
By Tanvir Ahsan
Category: Critique
Paperback
About Critical Dramaturgy
In a sense, critiques feed on the corpses of creative writings. Therefore, there is no dearth of critiques of the critiques. But in another sense criticism opens up a new dimension, a new perspective, and/or, if it does not sound too ambitious, creates a new outlook to creative writing. Whatsoever, critical writing is a staple in academia and provides the benchmark for any scholar who tries to survive in the academic arena. There's a saying, "publish or perish."Be that as it may, finding a topic worthy of research as well as within the field of the researcher's interest is not something a researcher would cross every now and then. The researcher needs to be always on the lookout for such a marriage to happen. And when the opportunity comes it's not always one can be prepared. Having said that this volume contains four of my research articles which somehow, I can claim much worthy of research and definitely fall within the radar of my field of interest. These articles have already been published in different scholarly journals. My heartfelt gratitude to the editors of these journals, especially to Professor Niaz Zaman, Professor Doctor Amitava Roy and Doctor Tapu Biswas for their kind support and encouragement.
My first article was on Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. This playis about the waiting of two tramps - Vladimir and Estragon. They wait for the promised meeting with Godot. The waiting appears as the acting force here. Many have considered waiting as a character. This waiting is related to the absence of Godot, his not coming, his infringement of the promise. Waiting for Godot is put in the category of absurd drama. Absurd in the sense, that it deals with the meaninglessness of action, of expression and of the obligation to express this meaninglessness. Thus, the act of waiting is meaningless too. Nevertheless, this meaningless waiting is necessary, necessary for the existence of the characters in the play. Godot doesn't come in the end. Many things might have happened if he had really come. But his coming gives birth to a dilemma. It raises the inevitable question - 'what does he have to offer the tramps?' Again, the arrival of Godot means the cease of the waiting. But waiting is the thing that makes Didi and Gogo to act, to think and to live through time. End of waiting means the closure of the play, the end of the existence of the tramps as no one knows what might happen if Godot enters the scene. Though the tramps dare to venture to see the future, to predict the character of Godot, and what he might offer, they really exist as long as he does not come.
My second article is on Samuel Beckett's Endgame (1958). The play is set on the backdrop of a perceived holocaust seemingly caused by an all-consuming war - presumably 'nuclear warfare'. This supposed war presumably leaves the whole earth destitute of all living beings except the two characters 'Hamm' and 'Clov' in the play. They desperately search the outer world through the windows for any trace of a living being other than them. Inside the room, which is on stage, they are locked in with each other as well as with two other drums containing, again presumably, the father and mother of the house. They become selfishly dependent on each other as well as continuously trying to get away from each other. Their company becomes painful more so because of their understanding of their incapability to leave that company and go outside because venturing into the world outside might mean definite death. The world outside is left empty of life thus vacuous of the possibility of any interaction from any living being. The article addresses the vacuum that has been created by the holocaust which was the ultimate result of the war outside. The endeavour is to comprehend the trauma sensed on stage which finds its expression into absurdity - both philosophically and linguistically and connect it with that vacuum. This article has addressed, analysed, and exposited how war creates a vacuous singularity which consummates into human pain and trauma and ultimately finds embodiment into absurdity on stage.
Polish professor Jan Kott iterated, "Hamlet is a sponge. … it immediately absorbs all the problems of our time" (52). Hence, the third article is anendeavour to understand Hamlet's dilemma and deferral through an existentialist lens, one of the influential philosophic movements of the 20th Century. Whilst there are many versions and interpretations of this philosophic creed, I was particularly curious about the theory purported by French Existentialist thinker and littérateur Jean-Paul Sartre and tried to find Sartrean locutions in the great tragedy Hamlet by the great English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. "To be, or not to be," (Hamlet 3.1) is one of the most universally quoted phrases from this play. It is quoted whenever a situation of indecision or dilemma is expressed with direct reference to the original dilemma expressed by the Prince of Denmark himself. As Sartre put in Being and Nothingness (1943), "… we have the freedom to stand back from our situation, evaluate it, and decide what to do." (qtd. in Thody and Read). He gave an account of one of his pupil in the Existentialism and Humanism (1948) to explicate his theory on 'freedom' and 'choice', where he also stated, "Man is nothing but what he purposes, he exists in so far as he realises himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions…" (Sartre 37). Also, he depicted in "Intimité", one of the stories in the collection Le Mur (The Wall) (1939), through the character Lucienne Crispin how she would do everything possible to try to make somebody else take her decision for herself. It was only because she knows she is free, and was afraid of her freedom, that she made such efforts to avoid them (Thody and Read 34-37). This hypothesis is equally applicable to Hamlet's own action in Hamlet. Whereas he had been demanded with an act of immediate revenge by the father's ghost, it took, incredibly, five acts and almost four thousand lines for him to accomplish the "blood atonement" (Bloom 388). "Everything in the play depends on Hamlet's response to the Ghost" (387). However, Hamlet, the university intellectual, is totally aware that he has been assigned to a task wholly inappropriate for him. Bloom put, "Hamlet also knows himself to be nothing in himself" (431). Therefore, what we find here is a Hamlet torn between choices of taking revenge, which he deems inappropriate for him, and of being passive thus labelled as a coward. However, Sartre proposes, "there is always possibility for the coward to give up cowardice and for the hero to stop being heroic" (Sartre 39). In the world of indefinite possibilities, Hamlet is also presented with choices but to choose one or not to choose any is also a choice. Therefore, he cannot escape the human stigmata of 'choices' that he has to make for himself. This is the anguish Hamlet suffers in Hamlet, the anguish of making a choice which we all suffer one time or another. Hence, I wrote my third article on Hamlet.
I wrote my fourth article on Crutch-er-Colonel (2017), a play adaptation of Shahaduzzaman's novelKratcherKornel. I read the novel after I have watched the drama. It can be said then, I accessed the root text through its footnotes. But, does the postmodern idea subscribe to the existence of any singular original root? Or, should we relyon the narrativeof the "horizontal and rhizomatic growth like a grass", as Deleuze and Guattari have proposed? Standing on this narrative we can say that Soumya Sarker and Samina Lutfa Nitra's play adaptation Crutch-er-Colonel gives birth to another rhizomatic root. Maybeeven my article has given birth to another root too. Similarly, every audience, every reader is capable of giving birth to a new root which can indulge in conversation with other roots. To me, this is the beauty of postmodernism.
Since I had watched the drama produced by Bottola, I felt an urge to write something on the adaptation because I could locate several postmodern forms and philosophy in the production. Shakespeare Society of Eastern India's president Professor Dr Amitava Roy personally expressed his interest on the topic and both the playwrights open-heartedly helped me out. With their encouragement and relying on my immense enthusiasm for and a little knowledge on Postmodernphilosophy, literature and narrative I wrote the article "Postmodern Locutions in Crutch-er-Colonel". My heartfelt gratitude to Shakespeare Society of Eastern India and both the playwrights.
In this article,I have attempted aformative analysis of the structure and narrative of the play from a postmodern perspective. In this regard, I have applied Jean François Lyotard'sidea of "incredulity to meta-narrative" from his ground-breaking essay "Postmodern Condition" (1979). Meta-narrative(s) always tends to suppress any "micro-narrative". On the other hand,"micro-narratives" are also dependent on or in rejection of one, some or many meta-narrativesfor its/their validity and existence too. Postmodern condition challenges the meta-narrative and celebrates the micro-narratives instead. The struggle to find a hero, the impetus to comprehend the historical narratives, the uneasiness and questionsto all the loopholes in that narrative, these are all manifestations of postmodern dilemma. Moreover, the staging of the drama in the form of a rehearsal is also an application of twentieth century"Meta Theatre" technique. Nonetheless, the whole drama takes on a postmodern form in its 37th scene. In the 36th scene,a Pakistani military officer Kader Khan's humane standing beforeMajor Taher's family puts all the binary narratives so far about our liberation war into serious query. The question arises, what could be or should be the form of the meta-narrative of the most sensitive event in the history of Bangladesh? In the 37th scene we, therefore, encounter that incredibly courageous statement, "the meta-narrative of our liberation war is yet to be born." I consider this statement as an important crossroad to understand the history of our liberation war.
Both the playwrights and the producer tried to bring forth the unparallel courage of Colonel Taher which they as well as I deem as the most important part of the narrative. Every man has his limitation and, though heroic,Taher is no exception. However, beyond all his limitations the courage of a patriotic soldier with a crutch in his hand stands upright even on the face of death. Inspired by that same courage this play has also turned to be a brave narrative of the postmodern time.
These articles have been written over a period of six years. My well-wishers think I should have written more but, to their dismay, I could not. My interest shifted over time from existentialism to post-modernism. However, I cannot deny my leaningtowards bleak and problematic discourses. My recent interests prove that leniency even more. But this should not be misconstrued as an inherent nihilism. I feel an urge to explore the darkest and uncomfortable regions of narrative because I am searching for answers. The problem is not always I can come up with the appropriate questions. But that is a dilemma common to all researchers. I would not claim that I found answers in my articles, but they have definitelyincreased my capability to ask questions more appropriately. I am still searching, both the questions and the answers. My open arms welcome to my readers in this quest. My sincerest gratitude to my publisher and Moom bhai (Moom Rahaman) for all his help, motivation and encouragement.
"What would have happened if Godot had really come!" was first published in Development Compilation, Volume 07, Issue 02 in June 2012 by Centre for Human Resources Information and Development, Dhaka
"Endgame: War and Trauma on the Absurd Stage" was first published in Diasporas and Diversities: Selected Essays in October 2016 by Department of English, Independent University Bangladesh, Dhaka
"Hamlet's anguish of choice: A Sartrean Reading of Hamlet" was first published in International Journal of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences, Volume 07, Issue 10 in November 2017 by Tagore Gandhi Institute/The Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, Kolkata, India
"Postmodern Locutions in Crutch-er-Colonel" was first published in Theatre International, Volume 11 in February 2018 by Tagore Gandhi Institute/The Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, Kolkata, India
My heartfelt gratitude to all my publishers.
My first article was on Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. This playis about the waiting of two tramps - Vladimir and Estragon. They wait for the promised meeting with Godot. The waiting appears as the acting force here. Many have considered waiting as a character. This waiting is related to the absence of Godot, his not coming, his infringement of the promise. Waiting for Godot is put in the category of absurd drama. Absurd in the sense, that it deals with the meaninglessness of action, of expression and of the obligation to express this meaninglessness. Thus, the act of waiting is meaningless too. Nevertheless, this meaningless waiting is necessary, necessary for the existence of the characters in the play. Godot doesn't come in the end. Many things might have happened if he had really come. But his coming gives birth to a dilemma. It raises the inevitable question - 'what does he have to offer the tramps?' Again, the arrival of Godot means the cease of the waiting. But waiting is the thing that makes Didi and Gogo to act, to think and to live through time. End of waiting means the closure of the play, the end of the existence of the tramps as no one knows what might happen if Godot enters the scene. Though the tramps dare to venture to see the future, to predict the character of Godot, and what he might offer, they really exist as long as he does not come.
My second article is on Samuel Beckett's Endgame (1958). The play is set on the backdrop of a perceived holocaust seemingly caused by an all-consuming war - presumably 'nuclear warfare'. This supposed war presumably leaves the whole earth destitute of all living beings except the two characters 'Hamm' and 'Clov' in the play. They desperately search the outer world through the windows for any trace of a living being other than them. Inside the room, which is on stage, they are locked in with each other as well as with two other drums containing, again presumably, the father and mother of the house. They become selfishly dependent on each other as well as continuously trying to get away from each other. Their company becomes painful more so because of their understanding of their incapability to leave that company and go outside because venturing into the world outside might mean definite death. The world outside is left empty of life thus vacuous of the possibility of any interaction from any living being. The article addresses the vacuum that has been created by the holocaust which was the ultimate result of the war outside. The endeavour is to comprehend the trauma sensed on stage which finds its expression into absurdity - both philosophically and linguistically and connect it with that vacuum. This article has addressed, analysed, and exposited how war creates a vacuous singularity which consummates into human pain and trauma and ultimately finds embodiment into absurdity on stage.
Polish professor Jan Kott iterated, "Hamlet is a sponge. … it immediately absorbs all the problems of our time" (52). Hence, the third article is anendeavour to understand Hamlet's dilemma and deferral through an existentialist lens, one of the influential philosophic movements of the 20th Century. Whilst there are many versions and interpretations of this philosophic creed, I was particularly curious about the theory purported by French Existentialist thinker and littérateur Jean-Paul Sartre and tried to find Sartrean locutions in the great tragedy Hamlet by the great English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. "To be, or not to be," (Hamlet 3.1) is one of the most universally quoted phrases from this play. It is quoted whenever a situation of indecision or dilemma is expressed with direct reference to the original dilemma expressed by the Prince of Denmark himself. As Sartre put in Being and Nothingness (1943), "… we have the freedom to stand back from our situation, evaluate it, and decide what to do." (qtd. in Thody and Read). He gave an account of one of his pupil in the Existentialism and Humanism (1948) to explicate his theory on 'freedom' and 'choice', where he also stated, "Man is nothing but what he purposes, he exists in so far as he realises himself, he is therefore nothing else but the sum of his actions…" (Sartre 37). Also, he depicted in "Intimité", one of the stories in the collection Le Mur (The Wall) (1939), through the character Lucienne Crispin how she would do everything possible to try to make somebody else take her decision for herself. It was only because she knows she is free, and was afraid of her freedom, that she made such efforts to avoid them (Thody and Read 34-37). This hypothesis is equally applicable to Hamlet's own action in Hamlet. Whereas he had been demanded with an act of immediate revenge by the father's ghost, it took, incredibly, five acts and almost four thousand lines for him to accomplish the "blood atonement" (Bloom 388). "Everything in the play depends on Hamlet's response to the Ghost" (387). However, Hamlet, the university intellectual, is totally aware that he has been assigned to a task wholly inappropriate for him. Bloom put, "Hamlet also knows himself to be nothing in himself" (431). Therefore, what we find here is a Hamlet torn between choices of taking revenge, which he deems inappropriate for him, and of being passive thus labelled as a coward. However, Sartre proposes, "there is always possibility for the coward to give up cowardice and for the hero to stop being heroic" (Sartre 39). In the world of indefinite possibilities, Hamlet is also presented with choices but to choose one or not to choose any is also a choice. Therefore, he cannot escape the human stigmata of 'choices' that he has to make for himself. This is the anguish Hamlet suffers in Hamlet, the anguish of making a choice which we all suffer one time or another. Hence, I wrote my third article on Hamlet.
I wrote my fourth article on Crutch-er-Colonel (2017), a play adaptation of Shahaduzzaman's novelKratcherKornel. I read the novel after I have watched the drama. It can be said then, I accessed the root text through its footnotes. But, does the postmodern idea subscribe to the existence of any singular original root? Or, should we relyon the narrativeof the "horizontal and rhizomatic growth like a grass", as Deleuze and Guattari have proposed? Standing on this narrative we can say that Soumya Sarker and Samina Lutfa Nitra's play adaptation Crutch-er-Colonel gives birth to another rhizomatic root. Maybeeven my article has given birth to another root too. Similarly, every audience, every reader is capable of giving birth to a new root which can indulge in conversation with other roots. To me, this is the beauty of postmodernism.
Since I had watched the drama produced by Bottola, I felt an urge to write something on the adaptation because I could locate several postmodern forms and philosophy in the production. Shakespeare Society of Eastern India's president Professor Dr Amitava Roy personally expressed his interest on the topic and both the playwrights open-heartedly helped me out. With their encouragement and relying on my immense enthusiasm for and a little knowledge on Postmodernphilosophy, literature and narrative I wrote the article "Postmodern Locutions in Crutch-er-Colonel". My heartfelt gratitude to Shakespeare Society of Eastern India and both the playwrights.
In this article,I have attempted aformative analysis of the structure and narrative of the play from a postmodern perspective. In this regard, I have applied Jean François Lyotard'sidea of "incredulity to meta-narrative" from his ground-breaking essay "Postmodern Condition" (1979). Meta-narrative(s) always tends to suppress any "micro-narrative". On the other hand,"micro-narratives" are also dependent on or in rejection of one, some or many meta-narrativesfor its/their validity and existence too. Postmodern condition challenges the meta-narrative and celebrates the micro-narratives instead. The struggle to find a hero, the impetus to comprehend the historical narratives, the uneasiness and questionsto all the loopholes in that narrative, these are all manifestations of postmodern dilemma. Moreover, the staging of the drama in the form of a rehearsal is also an application of twentieth century"Meta Theatre" technique. Nonetheless, the whole drama takes on a postmodern form in its 37th scene. In the 36th scene,a Pakistani military officer Kader Khan's humane standing beforeMajor Taher's family puts all the binary narratives so far about our liberation war into serious query. The question arises, what could be or should be the form of the meta-narrative of the most sensitive event in the history of Bangladesh? In the 37th scene we, therefore, encounter that incredibly courageous statement, "the meta-narrative of our liberation war is yet to be born." I consider this statement as an important crossroad to understand the history of our liberation war.
Both the playwrights and the producer tried to bring forth the unparallel courage of Colonel Taher which they as well as I deem as the most important part of the narrative. Every man has his limitation and, though heroic,Taher is no exception. However, beyond all his limitations the courage of a patriotic soldier with a crutch in his hand stands upright even on the face of death. Inspired by that same courage this play has also turned to be a brave narrative of the postmodern time.
These articles have been written over a period of six years. My well-wishers think I should have written more but, to their dismay, I could not. My interest shifted over time from existentialism to post-modernism. However, I cannot deny my leaningtowards bleak and problematic discourses. My recent interests prove that leniency even more. But this should not be misconstrued as an inherent nihilism. I feel an urge to explore the darkest and uncomfortable regions of narrative because I am searching for answers. The problem is not always I can come up with the appropriate questions. But that is a dilemma common to all researchers. I would not claim that I found answers in my articles, but they have definitelyincreased my capability to ask questions more appropriately. I am still searching, both the questions and the answers. My open arms welcome to my readers in this quest. My sincerest gratitude to my publisher and Moom bhai (Moom Rahaman) for all his help, motivation and encouragement.
"What would have happened if Godot had really come!" was first published in Development Compilation, Volume 07, Issue 02 in June 2012 by Centre for Human Resources Information and Development, Dhaka
"Endgame: War and Trauma on the Absurd Stage" was first published in Diasporas and Diversities: Selected Essays in October 2016 by Department of English, Independent University Bangladesh, Dhaka
"Hamlet's anguish of choice: A Sartrean Reading of Hamlet" was first published in International Journal of Cultural Studies and Social Sciences, Volume 07, Issue 10 in November 2017 by Tagore Gandhi Institute/The Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, Kolkata, India
"Postmodern Locutions in Crutch-er-Colonel" was first published in Theatre International, Volume 11 in February 2018 by Tagore Gandhi Institute/The Shakespeare Society of Eastern India, Kolkata, India
My heartfelt gratitude to all my publishers.
