Rehearsals of Revolution by Rustom Bharucha (review)

books and company Rehearsals of Revolution Rustom Bharucha University of Hawaii Press, 254 pp., $25.00 (cloth) Bharucha takes his title from Augusto Boal's dictum that theatre may not be "revolutionary in itself," but is, potentially, "a rehearsal of revolution." Keeping this idea in mind, he critically examines the political theatre in contemporary Bengal. He begins with an analysis of the emerging political theatre in the 19th century and its development into the 1940s with the establishment of the Indian People's Theatre Association. Bharucha has found an impressive balance in his presentation of background material, making his book readable and interesting for students of theatre who know little about India, as well as for people who know political history but little about the theatre. The bulk of the book concentrates on two significant theatres and their directors. Uptal Dutt, the Marxist head of The Little Theatre Group, has learned, Bharucha writes, that it was not enough merely to reflect the suffering of workers on stage, and has turned to a theatre that aims "to concretize the destruction of the system that was responsible for such suffering ." Bharucha offers vivid and detailed critical descriptions of Dutt's productions , showing their technological accomplishments, politicization of the traditional folk form, jatra, and their political impact. He believes that Dutt's theatre suffers ultimately from its reliance on empathy and commercial conventions. "Its virtuosity overwhelms its message," he writes, and it lacks "some form of sustained analysis of the political issues raised in his plays." The Third Theatre of Badal Sircar takes a different approach. A poor theatre-in both Grotowski's and in a literal sense-The Third Theatre is less explicitly political than Dutt's. It concentrates instead on the effect of politics on the lives of people, on the exploitation and injustices of Calcutta and rural Bengal. Sircar was influenced by a trip to America where he saw the work of Schechner and the Becks and incorporated some of their techniques into a unique physical style. Bharucha's descriptions of Sircar's productions are even more vivid and personal. Though Sircar has been working lately on adaptations of Brecht and others, Bharucha believes that his future lies in the direction of Boal's work-not merely performing for the people, but working with them. In his concluding overview of other minor political theatres in Bengal, Bharucha takes up some of the issues suggested in his earlier chapters, 134 and calls for a political theatre which does not rely on proscenium staging and an urban orientation, but works actively with the people. Throughout the book, he brings up provocative critical points applicable to political theatre anywhere-should actors identify with the suffering people they portray? What about the sensationalism of scenes of torture? One wishes Bharucha had more space to explore some of these theoretical issues further along with his beautifully written, scholarly, and evocative account of contemporary Indian theatre. Alisa Solomon Celebration: Studies in Festivityand Ritual Edited by Victor Turner Smithsonian Institution Press, 320 pp., 118 b&w illus., $25.00 (cloth); $9.95 (paper). In Spring 1982, the Folklife Program of the Smithsonian organized and mounted an exhibit entitled Celebration: A World of Art and Ritual. This extensive project brought together a range of over five hundred ceremonial objects from sixty-two different cultures with the aim of illuminating life-ways, cultural contexts, and the process of celebratory ritual. Victor Turner's anthology is a twin to the exhibit, and a further exploration of this theme. A collection of essays by eighteen noted cultural anthropologists, Celebration opens up varied perspectives on these often astonishingly beautiful objects , on the ceremonies which generated them, and the symbolic systems informing their use. It also embraces a variety of related celebratory events. Topics include: the animate qualities of Puebloan ceramic figurines (Barbara Babcock), meanings of the Torah binder for the Western Ashkenazic (Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett), contrasts between the Ramlila Festival in India and the Union City Passion Play in New Jersey (Richard Schechner), the religious character of the celebratory impulse (Victor and Edith Turner), the play element in political celebration (John MacAloon), and ritual as an agent of social change among Blacks in the...