The Poetics of Silence: Performativity and Social Order from Sanskrit Dramaturgy to Mahesh Dattani's Theatre

Abstract

The study assess the poetics of silence as a performative act in Indian theatre and the ways this act has served in a practical form since the era of Sanskrit dramaturgy in the theatre to modern theatre under Mahesh Dattani. It seeks to determine the key examples and functions of silence, its re-enactment of the voice of the marginalised and discusses how silence can serve dual purposes as both an agent of social control and a means of resistance. It is qualitative, descriptive, interpretative and comparative in nature, the research design is close textual reading, performing studies, discourse analysis and socio cultural interpretation of a set of chosen Sanskrit dramaturgical text and plays by Dattani. The results shows that the silence in Sanskrit drama exists only in the form of pauses, gestures, facial expressions, abhinaya embodied for benefit of conveying the emotional and aesthetic message. Within the theatre of Dattani however, silence is placed in larger social, psychological and ideological terms and reveals patriarchy, gender inequality, stigma, marginalisation and repressed identities. This study concludes that silence is a performative space that reproduces as well as challenges social order.