This book critically examines the role and politics of humour and the performance of power in South Asia. What does humour do and how does it manifest when lived political circumstances experience ruptures or instability? Can humour that emerges in such circumstances be viewed as a specific narrative on the nature of democracy in the region? Drawing upon essays from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this volume discusses many crucial historical and contemporary themes, including dance-drama pe...

There is a growing interest in the notion and practice of dramaturgy, which is often discussed either as the work of the dramaturg, or as the compositional, cohesive or sense-making aspects of a performance. Drawing on such views, The Practice of Dramaturgy addresses dramaturgy as a shared, politicized and catalytic practice that sets actions into motion in a more speculative rather than an instructive way. In the first part, 'Dramaturgy as Working on Actions', the editors and main authors of...