TY - JOUR AU - Chakrabarti, Gautam PY - 2018/09/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - ‘The Empire Floats Back’. Ariane Mnouchkine, her L’Indiade and the Nāṭyaśāstra JF - Cracow Indological Studies JA - CracowIndologicalStudies VL - 20 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.12797/CIS.20.2018.01.04 UR - https://journals.akademicka.pl/cis/article/view/316 SP - 31-68 AB - <p>This paper seeks to explore certain prescriptive theorisations of the <em>Nāṭyaśāstra</em> and link them, in a comparative vein, with the often radical directorial approaches and experiments in post-WW2 European dramaturgical practice, especially as seen in the work of the eminent French <em>metteur en scène</em>, Ariane Mnouchkine (1939–), who founded the avant-garde stage ensemble Théâtre du Soleil in 1964, in Paris. Mnouchkine’s <em>L’Indiade ou L’Inde de leurs Rêves</em> (1987–1988), based on the learning experiences which Hélène Cixous—who wrote the play for and with her—and she had had in India during their stay and travels there, was an almost ground-breaking exploration of Indic motifs and stagement-configurations. The play will be viewed here from the perspective of ‘total theatre’, as also envisaged in the <em>Nāṭyaśāstra</em>. Finally, this paper will also seek to engage with theatrical and ritual boundaries in Mnouchkine’s work by looking at the reception of Indic forms of ritual-theatre in <em>L’Indiade</em>.</p> ER -