Co optive versus coercive an enquiry into the differential depiction of violence in the select plays of Annie Zaidi Abhishek Majumdar and Shivani Tibrewala

Abstract

This thesis researches the dynamics of violence and power as it is portrayed in the modern Indian English theatre through the theoretical framework of Michel Foucault, Hannah Arendt, and Joseph Nye. Centering on the select three plays, Untitled 1 by Annie Zaidi, Pha-La by Abhishek Majumdar, and The Laboratory by Shivani Tibrewala, the research analyses how state and corporate bodies exert both hard as well as soft power to sustain authoritative control over people and communities. The paper contextualizes the plays chosen in the socio- political context of the study, where the surveillance, cultural dominance, and corporate control are critiqued as a form of violence. The notion of liquid surveillance as well as surveillance capitalism is implemented in Untitled 1, while Pha-La is scrutinized from the perspective of cultural imperialism and resistance by the natives in the Chinese invaded Tibet. The Laboratory is critically analysed through the perspectives of neo-imperialism and pharmaceutical colonization in the Global periphery. By incorporating Nye’s concept of soft and hard power with prevailing concepts of operational and psychological violence, the study reasons that power and violence, albeit notionally discrete, tend to serve concurrently inside the societal institutions. The selected plays besides sensationalizing these power relations also provide resistance methods via the description through the story, framework, and character empowerment. This research adds to the domains of Theater studies, theories of governance, and cultural criticism by depicting how the play functions as a powerful tool for delving into the existing power structures and their effect upon personal as well as collective identities.