Voices for reform in South Asian theatre (Regarding a symposium on Classical Sanskrit Theatre)

The classical theatres of southern Asia are variously treated with the reve rence thought due to sacrosanct and immutable forms-or as rich sources for plunder by western theatre-makers in search of intra-cultural building-bloc ks. The rights and wrongs of this latter approach have been much debated, n ot least in the pages of NTQ; less so the intrinsic desirability of leaving well alone. At the symposium on Classical Sanskrit Theatre, hosted in Dhak a by the Centre for Asian Theatre in December 1999, an unexpected consensus sought ways in which classical theatre forms might best meet contemporary needs, not only by drawing upon their unique qualities-but also by respecti ng the injunction in the Natyasastra that the actor must combine discipline with a readiness for improvisation. John Russell Brown here supports the c onclusions of the symposium that the qualities of Asian theatre which diffe rentiate it from western forms-of a quest for transformation rather than re presentation, a concern with emotional truth rather than ideological 'meani ng'-can best be pursued by such an approach, restoring to the theatre 'its enabling and necessary role in society.'