Body and Space in Performance The Plays of Manjula Padmanabhan and Poile Sengupta  (English, Hardcover, Dr. Rachana Pandey)

Space has emerged as a significant concept in the post-1960s. Henry Lefebvre observes that ‘space (social) is produced’ has moulded the previous notion of space as a ‘fixed’ substance and recognised it as an active cultural element. The study marks that spaces are inflicted with gender and acquire meaning accordingly. It looks at gender-based social realities with the spatial lens and studies how bodies are socially negotiated and located in various theatrical spaces within gender and cultural boundaries by reading the plays of Manjula Padmanabhan and Poile Sengupta. Theatre plays a significant role in reconfiguring the spatial dynamics of power and it is used as a powerful dialogic medium to represent alternative realities by the contemporary Indian playwrights Manjula Padmanabhan and Poile Sengupta. Hence, the study covers the spatial understanding of gender and how it relates to the concept of body, particularly, with the situated notions of masculinity/femininity, performativity and the concept of the third body-space. The book offers alternatives - ‘spaces of hope’ which is possible through articulation, recognition and participation.