A Survey of Indian English Drama by Satish Kumar

Abstract

Apart from K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar's pioneering Indian Writing in English and M.K.Naik's A History of Indian English Literature, there have been no separate and exclusive surveys or histories of Indian English Drama, perhaps because the genre of Indian English drama happens to be the poorest among the literary genres and suffers from many disadvantages, due to its alien medium (of English language) confined to academia and lack of an independent theatrical tradition. But in spite of all these disadvantages Indian English drama has survived because of own colonial contact with Britain and the English education introduced by the colonial rule. Though Indian English Drama cannot be seen on the stage, it has been read and studied in Indian Universities as part of their post-graduate curriculum and doctoral programme. But the information on Indian English Drama has not been abundantly available in literary histories, as it is a new subject and there is no network of academic\ communication and centralized documentation in India. There are many plays, which have escaped the notice of literary historians like M.K.Naik.