Transcultural Adaptation of Brecht’s Work by Ajoka Theatre in Pakistan: A Critical Review
Abstract
Transcultural theatrical adaptation has become an increasingly significant domain of inquiry for scholars of language and literature and also a key issue due to its collaborative creative mode as process and continuing popularity as a product. As the foremost representative of Brecht’s radical dramaturgy in Pakistan since 1983, Ajoka theatre utilized these adaptations as socio-political spaces to challenge dominant discourse on the rise of dictatorship and capitalism in Pakistan. Detailed literature review result showed that in Pakistan’s context, there is dearth of comprehensive research regarding the historical intentionality in indigenizing of Brecht’s work by Ajoka Theatre. This study outlines and examines relevant literature regarding the adaptation of Brecht’s selected work in Pakistan by Ajoka Theatre. It also asserts that Brecht’s “canonical” literary works, controversial indigenization in Pakistan, offers a striking account of valuable and interesting transcultural adaptation study because it was performed through a ‘radical’ theatre with a distinct dramaturgy and political philosophy in two different cultural contexts and also in distant historical frame of reference
Authors
Taimur Kayani
Senior Lecturer, Department of English, GIFT University, Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan
Dr. Arbaayah Ali Termizi
Associate Professor, Department of English, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Keywords
Theatrical Adaptation, Ajoka TheatreHistorical Intentionality, New Historicism, Theory of Adaptation