Satyadev Dubey : A Fifty Year Journey Through Theatre

Contents: Foreword/Ashok Vajpeyi. Preface. Introduction: a lifetime in Theatre. I. The sixties: the Bhulabhai Memorial Institute Decade: 1. Translation: autobiography, contradiction and theatre time and space/Alaknanda Samarth. 2. Discovering Andha Yug/Satyadev Dubey. 3. The one and only Dubey/Dharamvir Bharati. 4. My days with Dubey/Neela Bhagwat. Work in the sixties. II. The seventies: the Walchand Terrace decade: 5. Two plays with Dubey: excerpts from an autobiography/Sheeram Lagoo. 6. Censorship: an open letter/Satyadev Dubey. 7.A set for Dubey: Gidhade/Bapu Linmaye. 8. Discovering good playwrights-excerpt from an interview with Shankar Shesh. 9. Oh! To experience a play: report on the playwrights workshop, Pune/G.P. Deshpande. 10. Dubey on Dubey: the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award/Satyadev Dubey. 11. Review: Adhe Adhure and Evam Indrajit-Nemichandra Jain. 12. Review: an incomparable production-Aur Tota Bola/Kamalakar Nadkarni. 13. Work in the seventies. III. The eighties: the Chhabildas school hall decade: 13. A new direction-interview with Rajinder Paul. 14. Director’s note: G.P. Deshpande’s Andhryatra/Satyadev Dubey. 15. The economics of creativity/Satyadev Dubey. 16. Review: something is missing in Bali/Ravi Ranjan. 17. Review: Teen Ekant: a dramatization/Reeta Sondhi. 18. Review: Aada Chautal-sophisticated revivalism/Iqbal Masud. 19. Three Cheers to you, Elk A tribute/Satyadev Dubey. Work in the eighties. IV. The nineties and beyond: The Prithvi Theatre decade: 20. I will always stand by the Truth of Theatre-interview with Shafaat Khan. 21. On conducting workshops-as told to Shailaja Ganguly. 22. A report: actors workshop, Pune/Shyam Joshi. 23. Dubeyji and Saru/Supriya Vinod. 24. English theatre: a diatribe/Satyadev Dubey. 25. Honours and the man/Sumedha Raikar Mhatre. 26. In love with theatre: a tribute to Rajinder Paul/Satyadev Dubey. 27. Satyadev Dubey: controversial personality uncontroversial work/Devendra Raj Ankur. 28. Review: Sambhog se Sanyas Tak-of sex and sexuality/Kavita Singh. 29. Review: Inshallah-a performance of rare verve and versality/Aruna Ahluwalia. 30. I do the plays that I enjoy-interview with Madhav Vaze. 31. Hallabol: Dubey then and now/Shafaat Khan. 32. Drama with a distinct vision: Antigone/Girish Karnad. 33. Changing texts-interview with Shanta Gokhale. 34. Review: Flirt in Your Drams/Nandini Ramnath. 35. Review: analyse this-Khuda ke Liye Mat Dekhna/Pronoti Datta. Work in the nineties and beyond. V. Prithvi Theatre pays tribute to Satyadev Dubey: 1. Discussion at Prithvi House. 2. Participants. 3. I have learnt a lot from him/Mahesh Elkunchwar. A brief biodata. Honours and awards. Acknowledgements. Select bibliography.

Satyadev Dubey : A Life Lived Through Theatre documents the work of Satyadev Dubey director, actor, teacher and playwright. Dubey has been passionately involved in theatre full time since the early sixties. Along with the late Shyamanand Jalan in Kolkata and Rajinder Paul, publisher-printer of the theatre magazine Enact in Delhi, Dubey was responsible for the great exchange of plays that happened between Hindi, Bengali, Kannada and Marathi theatre in the sixties and seventies. Amongst the playwrights who came to national recognition during this energetic exchange were Vijay Tendulkar, Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sircar and Girish Karnad.

This book brings together essays, interviews and reviews by playwrights, actors and theatre critics as well as a selection from amongst Dubey’s prolific output of articles in the Mumbai press. It brings to light the phases of Dubey’s work, his style and method of direction, his system for actor training, the furious debates about theatre and the freedom of expression that he was involved with, the manner in which he managed his economics without ever applying for government or corporate funding to put on the boards over a hundred plays in a career spanning over 50 years.

Along the way, the book reveals what a theatre practitioner must give up when he commits his life to doing non-mainstream, non-spectacular plays in a theatre world that was once led by idealism but has since moved on to a more pragmatic approach to life and work. It also reveals the creative energy that drives Satyadev Dubey, propelling him to continue finding ways to do theatre, regardless of the circumstances.