Scenography: An Indian Perspective

Scenography is the art of ‘writing the stage space’—a visual journey of unmaking and remaking the text on a theatre space, a language of the spectatorial senses. However, this dialect of space and props, though prevalent in the West from the early days of the Greek plays, unfortunately has never been groomed and appropriated in the long theatre tradition of the Orient—until a bunch of new practitioners and scholars decided to explore the field of design and change the narrative of space in recent times. Yet with hardly any documentation available in the backdrop of indigenous theatre, there was a need of a practical treatise for quite a long time.Scenography: An Indian Perspective unearths this astonishing yet silent contribution of ‘stage’ design in Indian theatres throughout the ages and the comparatively recent appropriation of it.Dr Satyabrata Rout is a noted scenographer and director of contemporary Indian theatre. He has completed his post-graduation in design and direction from the National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1983, and thereafter was associated with various institutions and organisations like Rangmandal, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, Theatre-in-Education Company, NSD Extension Programme, etc.Satyabrata is one of the pioneers in conceptualising ‘Visual Theatre’ in India, and has designed and directed more than 75 plays of international repute.Rout has been a visiting professor to various universities across the globe where he teaches Indian scenography and theatre. He is currently a professor of scenography and direction at the Department of Theatre, University of Hyderabad, India, where he is engaged in imparting his global and regional experiences to the students and scholars. Professor Rout has been conferred with numerous prestigious national and international awards, and that includes the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and B.V. Karanath award by NSD.His previous book, On the Crossroad of Theatre (2012) has been widely acclaimed.