Raj Bisaria (10 November 1935 – 16 February 2024) was an Indian director, producer, actor and educationalist, described by the

Press Trust of India The Press Trust of India Ltd., commonly known as PTI, is the largest news agency in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi and is a nonprofit cooperative among more than 450 Indian newspapers. It has over 500 full-time employees , including abo ...

as "the father of the modern theatre in North India". He founded

Theatre Arts Workshop The Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) is a non-profit making, registered cultural organization established in 1966, in Lucknow, India. As well as the plays of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, TAW produces new work from living artists and de ...

in 1966, and

Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts Bharatendu Academy of Dramatic Arts or Bharatendu Natya Akademi is a theatre training institute in Lucknow, India. It is named after Bharatendu Harishchandra, father of Hindi theatre. It offers a two-year full-time diploma course in theatre trai ...

in 1975 and the repertory company of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1980. He blended artistic concepts of the East and the West, and the traditional and the modern.

Background

Raj Bisaria was born in Lakhimpur Kheri,

United Provinces of British India The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh was a province of India under the British Raj, which existed from 22 March 1902 to 1937; the official name was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935 to United Provinces (UP), by which the province h ...

(now in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

), on 10 November 1935, the son of the late P.L. Bisaria and Leelavati Singh. He was educated at Colvin Taluqdars' College and

Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

, Lucknow, and retired as a senior professor of English Literature from Lucknow University. In 1969, Bisaria married the Kiran Kuchawan; the couple have a daughter, Rajina. The initiative was taken by his University Theatre Group formed in 1962. Four years later, Raj Bisaria founded the Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) in 1966 and

, Government of Uttar Pradesh, in 1975, and the repertory company of BNA in 1981. He was the first man from Uttar Pradesh to have been awarded a

Padma Shree The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

for work in modern theatre and his contribution towards the growth of theatre in India. Bisaria tried to infuse a new sense of consciousness with regard to the dramatic and performing arts and aesthetic awareness of the performing arts in northern India. Bisaria was removed as the honorary director of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he was assaulted twice, first in 1988 and then in 1995. Raj Bisaria died after a battle with throat cancer on 16 February 2024, at the age of 88.

Theatre training

External theatre training for Raj Bisaria included an invitation by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

, London, to visit the UK and train at the

British Drama League The All-England Theatre Festival ("AETF") organises the only countrywide eliminating One-Act Play Festival, contest for one-act plays in performance throughout England. It provides an opportunity for Amateurs to compete against like-minded group ...

(now the British Theatre Association) as a producer, drama instructor, and adjudicator, in 1969.

Director and designer

Raj Bisaria was also a stage director with a grounding in both the western classics and contemporary dramatic works. Raj Bisaria tried to ensure that the dramatic and performing arts conform to a professional discipline and communicate through a new aesthetic medium. His plays are concerned with men-women relationships and social issues of special concern to him. Through the productions of European and Indian plays from 1966 onwards, Bisaria presented a wide spectrum of contemporary world drama as director and designer. Largely using his own devices and creative expression he began his work in English and then to use ''Hindustani'' as the spoken medium of expression from 1973. He encouraged folk theatre in the Uttar Pradesh local genre known as the Nautanki. In 1972, he took a major shift in his emphasis from modern Euro-American productions to plays in Hindi of modern Indian playwrights: Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sircar, Adya Rangacharya, Dharamvir Bharti, Shesh and Mohit Chatterjee. Over the years, Raj Bisaria produced and directed over 75 theatre productions. In addition he supervised, produced/directed a large number of productions in the Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts from 1975 to 1986 and later on; and also in

National School of Drama National School of Drama (NSD) is a drama school situated at New Delhi, India. It is an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. It was set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and became an independent school ...

and for its Repertory Company. His major productions have included

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Anderson faced many challenges in his career, frequently losing jobs for expressing his opinions or supporting ...

's ''

Barefoot in Athens ''Barefoot in Athens'' is a 1966 ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' television film directed by George Schaefer. It stars Peter Ustinov, Geraldine Page, Anthony Quayle, Lloyd Bochner and Christopher Walken in his film debut. Plot The film concerns t ...

'';

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'', ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'', ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'', ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'';

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

's ''

Candida Candida, or Cándida (Spanish), may refer to: Biology and medicine * ''Candida'' (fungus), a genus of yeasts ** Candidiasis, an infection by ''Candida'' organisms * Malvasia Candida, a variety of grape Places * Candida, Campania, a ''comu ...

'';

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

's '' The Caretaker'';

Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French ph ...

's ''

In Camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

''; Ionesco's ''

The Lesson ''The Lesson'' () is a one-act play by French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco. It was first performed in 1951 in a production directed by Marcel Cuvelier (who also played the Professor). Since 1957 it has been in permanent showing at Pari ...

'';

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 play ...

's ''

The Father Father is the male parent of a child. Father or The Father may also refer to: Name * Daniel Fathers (born 1966), a British actor * Father Yod (1922–1975), an American owner of one of the country's first health food restaurants Cinema * ''Fa ...

'',

Jean Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

's ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

''; and various plays of

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

, Ionesco,

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

, Shaffer and others. His major productions of Indian plays have included

Dharamvir Bharati Dharamvir Bharati (25 December 1926 – 4 September 1997) was a renowned Hindi poet, author, playwright and a social thinker of India. He was the chief editor of the popular Hindi weekly magazine '' Dharmayug'', from 1960 till 1987.The Illustr ...

's ''

Andha Yug ''Andha Yug'' (Hindi: अंधा युग, ''The Age of Blindness'' or ''The Blind Age'') is a 1953 verse play written in Hindi, by renowned novelist, poet, and playwright Dharamvir Bharati (1926–1997). Set in the last day of the Great Ma ...

'',

Badal Sircar Sudhindra Sircar (15 July 1925 – 13 May 2011), also known as Badal Sarkar, was an influential Indian dramatist and theatre director, most known for his anti-establishment plays during the Naxalite movement in the 1970s and taking theatre out o ...

's ''Baqi Itihas'', Adya Rangacharya's ''Suno Janmejaya'', Elkunchwar's ''Garbo'',

Mohan Rakesh Mohan Rakesh (8 January 19253 December 1972) was one of the pioneers of the ''Nai Kahani'' ("New Story") literary movement of the Hindi literature in India in the 1950s. He wrote the first modern Hindi play, '' Ashadh Ka Ek Din'' (One Day in Aa ...

's ''Aadhe-Adhure'' and Mohit Chatterjee's ''Guinea Pig''.

Criticism

Critics found Ann Jellicoe's ''The Knack'' revolting and Sartre's ''In Camera'' and Ionesco's ''The Lesson'' too demanding. The TAW team has a group of permanent actors, with other interested parties for different productions. Lack of men and material compelled Raj Bisaria to stage ''Othello'' with only four characters. And yet it was a memorable performance. The persistent efforts of Raj Bisaria have yielded results.

Actor

As an actor of stage, radio, television and films, Bisaria was known from 1978 as a major actor of the Doordarshan. As a theatre actor Raj Bisaria did significant roles in several of TAW's English and Hindi stage productions, films and television. Bisaria played leading roles in at least two dozen plays in English and Hindi, such as: * Sheridan's ''

The School for Scandal ''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling S ...

'' * Pirandello's ''

Right You Are (if you think so) ''Right You Are (if you think so)'' (, also translated as ''So It Is (If You Think So)'', is an Italian language, Italian drama by Luigi Pirandello. The play is based on Pirandello's short story ''La signora Frola e il signor Ponza, suo genero' ...

'' * Shaw's ''

'' * Coward's '' Nude with Violin'' * Sartre's ''

'' * Shaffer's ''

Black Comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

'' * Tom Stoppard's ''

The Real Inspector Hound ''The Real Inspector Hound'' is a short, one-act play by Tom Stoppard. The plot follows two theatre critics named Moon and Birdboot who are watching a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery, in the style of a whodunit. By chance, t ...

'' * Osborne's ''

Look Back in Anger ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' * Orton's '' Loot'' * Chatterjee's ''

Guinea Pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy ( ), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'', family Caviidae. Animal fancy, Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the ani ...

'' * Badal Sircar's ''Baqi Itihas'' * Elkunchawar's '' Garbo'' * Matkari's ''Akela Jeev Sadashiv'' * Shakespeare's ''

'' directed by Amal Allana * ''Biwi Natiyon Wali'' * ''Mai Wo Nahi'' directed by Sushil Kumar Singh * Manno Bhandari's ''Apka Banti'' directed by Amal Allana * Kamleshwar's ''Ret Pe Likhe Naam'' * Badal Sircar's '' Pagla Ghoda ''directed by Rajan Sabbarwal *''Raj Se Swaraj'' directed by Amal Allana * Muzzaffar Ali's ''

Aagaman ''Aagaman'' is a 1982 Hindi language drama film directed by Muzaffar Ali and produced by Uttar Pradesh Sugarcane Seed and Development Corporation under the banner of Integrated Films. The cast included Saeed Jaffrey, Suresh Oberoi, Dilip Dhawan, ...

'' * Govind Nilhani's ''Aaghat''

Impresario

As impresario Raj Bisaria's widening interests had led to the introduction of

Irshad Panjatan Irshad Panjatan (born 7 September 1931) is an Indian actor and veteran mime artist, based in Berlin, who introduced the art form to India during the 1960s. He started his career as stage actor, acted in few Bollywood films, and later received ac ...

's mime in 1967 and next year the presentation of the Murray Louis Dance Company of USA. This broadening activity and involvement with the performing arts also saw a classical dance performance by Sonal Mansingh, in 1970, the début of Om Shivpuri's Dishanter group in 1972, a painting exhibition of R.S. Bisht's miniature in 1973, ''Richard Schechners' environmental theatre'' presentation of ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' from New York in 1976, and the Annapolis Brass Quintet in 1981 - all arranged at the initiative of Raj Bisaria's TAW.

Educationist

As a dramaturge his primary concern was an effort to resolve the problem of creative reinterpretation of the classical and theatrical art of his region to find itself in contemporary social relevance. He structured Theatre Training Programmes in U.P. through workshops and certificate and diploma courses in North India from 1966. He founded in 1975 for the Government of U.P. India's second school of drama: Bhartendu Natya Akademi-

. Raj Bisaria was interested as an actor, director and theatre teacher in the system of

Konstantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( rus, Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj, links=yes; ; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Sovie ...

and

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. The Russian

theatre practitioner A theatre practitioner is someone who creates theatrical performances and/or produces a theoretical discourse that informs their practical work. A theatre practitioner may be a director, dramatist, actor, designer or a combination of these tradi ...

provided the core of Raj Bisaria's directing and

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

in contemporary Indian theatre. Later, he developed his own system of holistic acting, which produced three generations of actors and directors.

Theatre Arts Workshop

In December 1963, ten members organized a theatre play and put through a programme – ''An Evening with Young Actors'' – which included Edna St. Vincent Millay's ''Aria da Capo'', scenes from ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' and ''

'', ''The Valiant'' and a dramatized reading of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'', and a dramatisation of

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Raj Bisaria produced and directed all the play, and he decided to register a theatre group with a managing body, using local talent. The theatre group was

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

(English and Hindi), and concerned itself with encouraging interest in theatre-craft and developing a greater awareness of theatre, an ability to appreciate drama, and a firmer grap of ideas and technique. By the winter of 1965, his plans had been finalized. No financial help was forthcoming yet. Finally, he staked a large part of his personal fortune on the project, selected members for the committee, picked out a likely group of four English actors and of helpers, and established what has since then been called Theatre Arts Workshop – a theatre for enthusiasts in drama and allied arts. Thus in 1966, Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) was founded by Raj Bisaria, as a president and artistic director, with the aim of creating interest in dramatic arts among the young, and help them to develop an insight into acting, direction and allied arts. The name 'Theatre Arts Workshop' is unit for theatre and allied performing arts; its members are to be exposed to workshop methods of representation. TAW was to be a training organization and then a performing group, with its motto training before performance. Its philosophy is ''"your right is to work only, but never the fruit thereof. Let not the fruit of action be your object, nor let your attachment be to inaction."'' – Sri Krishna to sorrowing Arjuna (The Bhagvadgita, chapter II - 47)

English theatre

Raj Bisaria started his venture in English language with Shakespeare's ''Othello'' in 1966, Christopher Fry's poetic play ''A Phoenix too Frequent'' and Eugène Ionesco's absurd play ''The Lesson'' in 1967. The selection of these two plays; diametrically opposite in their form and content, in a single show was an experiment by Raj Bisaria. It was a box office failure. In 1967 a significant advance was made when Raj Bisaria decided to produce and direct Jean-Paul Sartre's existential ''In Camera'', Edna St. Vincent Millay's ''Aria Da Capo'' and Ronald Duncan's translation of 12th century classic ''Abelard and Heloise'' in a three-bill presentation, in November, 1967. These were crucial productions as TAW's audience wavered between shocked admiration and shocked disgust. Four hours of continuous drama was considereda bit too much.

Hindi and Urdu theatre

Raj Bisaria was aware from the very beginning that any worthwhile theatre activity had to find its moorings in Hindi and other Indian languages. He sought the co-operation of the then existing theatre groups to realize his plans to establish a bilingual theatre in Lucknow. But his effort failed to elicit any response from them. He even brought the production rights of Mohan Rakesh's well known play, ''Adhe-Adhure'', which he could not stage for want of a suitable cast. In his bid to switch over to Hindi drama, he invited Delhi groups to produce, under TAW's auspices, plays in Hindi with a view to making local groups conscious of the potentialities and challenges of Hindi Theatre. TAW's first Hindi play was ''Baqi Itihas'', a translation of Badal Sircar's Bengali play on a thrust stage. It was a non-realistic presentation, using giant slides and specially designed music, the first production of the kind in the country. ''Baqi Itihas'' was followed by a wide range of plays in translation from English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, in addition to those originally in Hindi; A''ndha Yug, Suno Janmejaya, Adhe-Adhure'', ''The Cave Dwellers, Antigone, Garbo, Candida, Father, Sleuth, Barefoot in Athens, The Caretaker'' etc. TAW is considered the protagonist of theatre art, from the classical to the experimental plays . TAW mounted on stage the European and American playwrights; its repertoire including

, '' Shaw,

, Ionesco, Fry,

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

Ronald Duncan Ronald Frederick Henry Duncan (6 August 1914 – 3 June 1982) was an English writer, poet and playwright of German descent, now best known for his poem ''The Horse (poem), The Horse'' and for preparing the libretto for Benjamin Britten's opera ' ...

, Rattigan,

Ann Jellicoe Patricia Ann Jellicoe (15 July 1927 – 31 August 2017) was an English playwright, theatre director and actress. Although her work covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devisin ...

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He is best known for the plays '' Equus'' and '' Amadeus'', the latter of which was adapted for the screen by Miloš Forman, with an ...

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), ''The Sandbox (play), The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), ''A Delicat ...

and Orton''. According to The Pioneer, The dynamism of TAW productions, their stylistic experimentation and directorial subtlety, were never in doubt on either side of the proscenium. But TAW's plays proved too radical in the context of existing provincial attitudes.

Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts

As a theatre educator as early as 1973, Raj Bisaria suggested to the State Government that he should start a semi-professional repertory theatre in Uttar Pradesh, in 1974 the State Government went a few steps further and requested him to evolve a scheme for establishing a drama school, which would function as a full-fledged academy of dramatic arts. Bhartendu Natya Akademi (BNA): Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (BADA), when it was founded in 1975 became the first of its kind in the large Hindi belt of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The only other being the Delhi-based

. From 1975 to 1986, in an honorary capacity, he had the responsibility of teaching acting and direction (aspects both theoretical and practical) western drama, from the Greeks to modern times; theatre criticism and adjudication and aesthetics of light, and set design. He worked again as, director of the academy as well as the director of its Repertory Company from 1989 to 1992, 1995 to 1997. As theatre administrator with minimal facilities, poor funds and negligible infrastructure, he developed and consolidated the viability and status of a school of theatre beginning initially as an elementary agency for dissemination of theatrical know-how in 1976 to a professional academy of dramatic arts in 1981.

Fellowship projects

'The Mind of the Director'- A book on Hindi theatre directors, under the 'Senior Fellowship' of Government of India. 'Shakespeare's Indian Summer' - A theatrical study of Shakespearean plays in India, under the highest cultural fellowship of India - 'Tagore National Fellowship' (2013–14).

Major productions as director

* February 1966 ''

'' in English –

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, (

TAW Taw, tav, or taf is the twenty-second and last letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic ''tāʾ'' , Aramaic ''taw'' 𐡕‎, Hebrew ''tav'' , Phoenician ''tāw'' 𐤕, and Syriac ''taw'' ܬ. In Arabic, it also gives rise to the derived ...

) * May 1967 ''A Phoenix too Frequent'' in English –

Christopher Fry Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially '' The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biograp ...

, (TAW) * May 1967 ''

'' in English –

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; ; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre#Avant-garde, French avant-garde th ...

, (TAW) * November 1967 ''

'' in English –

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

, (TAW) * November 1967 ''Aria Da Capo'' in English –

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...

, (TAW) * November 1967 '' Abelard and Heloise'' in English –

, (TAW) * March 1968 ''

The Knack The Knack was an American power pop band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978 by Doug Fieger (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Berton Averre (lead guitar, backing vocals), Prescott Niles (bass) and Bruce Gary (drums). Spearheaded by the succes ...

'' in English –

, (TAW) * October 1968 ''

Hello Out There ''Hello Out There!'' is a one-act play by the Armenian-American playwright William Saroyan written early in August 1941. Plot The play is set in a small Texas jail. There are two major characters, Photo-Finish and Emily, whom Saroyan refers to ...

'' in English –

William Saroyan William Saroyan (; August 31, 1908 – May 18, 1981) was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film ''The ...

, (TAW) * October 1968 ''

The Zoo Story ''The Zoo Story'' is a one-act play by American playwright Edward Albee. His first play, it was written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks. Productions Rejected by New York producers, the play premiered in West Berlin at the Schiller ...

'' in English –

, (TAW) * October 1968 '' The White Liars'' in English –

, (TAW) * May 1971 ''

'' in English

, (TAW) * September 1972 ''Say Who You Are'' in English Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, (TAW) * February 1974 '' Loot'' in English

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly i ...

, (TAW) * May 1973 ''Baki Itihas'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * June 1973 ''

'' in Hindi Mohit Chatterji, (TAW) directed by

Manohar Singh Manohar Singh (12 April 1938 – 14 November 2002) was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films. He is best known for his performances in films such as ''Party'' (1984) and '' Daddy'' (1989). Starting his acting caree ...

* 1973 ''Andhon Ka Hathi'' in Hindi

Sharad Joshi Sharad Joshi was an Indian poet, writer, satirist and a dialogue and scriptwriter in Hindi films and television. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990. Biography Early life and education Sharad Joshi was born on 21 May 1931 in Ujjain, Madhya ...

, (TAW) * July 1974 ''Suno Janmejaya'' in Hindi Adya Rangacharya, (TAW) * January 1975 ''Akela Jeev Sadashiv'' in Hindi Ratnaker Matkari, (TAW) * June 1977 ''

'' in Urdu

, (TAW) * 1979 ''Gufavasi – The Cave Dwellers'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * 1979 ''

'' in Hindi

, (

) * August 1981, 1983 ''Aadhe-Adhure'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * February 1983 ''

The Royal Hunt of the Sun ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that dramatizes the relation of two worlds entering in a conflict by portraying two characters: Atahuallpa Inca and Francisco Pizarro. Performance history Premiere ''The Royal H ...

'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * August 1983 '' Garbo'' in Hindi Mahesh Elkunchawar, (TAW) * August 1984 ''Suniti –

'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * 1984 ''Bahut Bada Sawal'' in Hindi

, (

) * 1984 ''Baki Itihas'' in Hindi

, (

) * December 1989 – 1990 ''

'' in Hindi

, (

) * April 1995 ''

Hot Air ''Hot Air'' is a conservatism in the United States, conservative American political blog. It is written by Ed Morrissey, John Sexton, and David Strom. Karen Townsend and Jazz Shaw wrote for the blog until their deaths in 2024. The pseudonymous ...

'' in Hindi

Ferenc Karinthy Ferenc Karinthy (June 2, 1921 – February 29, 1992) was a Hungarian novelist, playwright, journalist, editing, editor and translation, translator, as well as a water polo champion. He authored more than a dozen novels. His father was the writer a ...

, (TAW) * April 1995 ''

The Dumb Waiter ''The Dumb Waiter'' is a one-act play by Harold Pinter written in 1957. Plot Two Hitman, hit-men, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment. As the play begins, Ben, the senior member of the team, is reading a newspaper ...

'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * 1990 and 2000 ''Raaz –

Sleuth Sleuth may refer to: *Detective *Sleuth, collective noun for a group of bears Computing *The Sleuth Kit, a collection of forensic analysis software *SLEUTH assembler language for the UNIVAC 1107 Entertainment and media *Cloo Cloo, formerly k ...

'' in Hindi Anthony Shaffer, (TAW) * 1989 and 2000 ''Pita –

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

'' in Hindi

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

, (TAW) * April 2007 ''

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) * December 2008 ''

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, (National School of Drama Repertory Company) * May 2010 ''

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) * February 2011 ''Landscape and Silence'' in English

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Mountain Language ''Mountain Language'' is a one-act play written by Harold Pinter, first published in '' The Times Literary Supplement'' (TLS) on 7–13 October 1988. It was first performed at the Royal National Theatre in London on 20 October 1988 with Micha ...

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,(TAW) * February 2012 '' The White Liars'' in Hindi

,(TAW) * March 2012 ''

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, (TAW) * February 2013 ''Barefoot in Athens'' in Hindi

, (TAW), * May 2013 ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

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Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

) * August 2014 '' The Caretaker'' in Hindi

, (TAW) * May 2015 ''

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* March 2016 ''Raaz''

, in Hindi Anthony Shaffer, (TAW)

Honours

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English language, English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture (India) ...

, Uttar Pradesh Award, for Direction – 1988. He declined the award. *

– 1990, for ''contribution'' to ''Modern Indian Theatre'', by the ''

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

'' the first theatre person from Uttar Pradesh to be so honoured. * Yash Bharti – 1994 – Lifetime achievement award 1994 by the ''

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (International Organization for Standardization, ISO: ''Uttara Pradēśa Sarakāra''; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appoin ...

''. * U.P. Ratna – 1996 – by All India Conference of Intellectuals for ''Theatre Direction and Contribution to Media''. * Distinguished Service Honour – NGO Helpage India – 1997. * Fun-Vibhushan, NGO, Bhartiya Funkar Society, U.P. – 1998. *

– Recognition for his unique services and contribution as its founder-director – 2000. * Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Direction- 2004. *

Recognition for composite contribution to Theatre in India. * Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar – Life Time Achievement Award – 2010 * The Chaman Lal Memorial Award – for Life-Long Achievement to Theatre World – 2012 * Tagore National Fellowship (Highest Cultural Research Award of India) – for 'Shakespeare's Indian Summer' – A theatrical study of Shakespearean plays in India (2013–2014) * The Madhya Pradesh government honouring him with its prestigious

Kalidas Samman The Kalidas Samman () is an arts award presented annually by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India. The Kalidas Samman was first awarded in 1980. It ...

national award for 2015–2016 for achievement in theatre. The ceremony was held on 10 November in Ujjain, which was also the birthday of the then 80-year-old. *Life Time Achievement Award by Doordarshan DD Uttar Pradesh, 2017

References

External links

https://web.archive.org/web/20141115013030/http://bna.noetic.in/english/founder_director.htm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisaria, Raj 1935 births 2024 deaths Indian theatre directors Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Deaths from throat cancer Deaths from cancer in India People from Lakhimpur Kheri district