Mahanta, Susmita2018-08-312024-08-142018-08-312024-08-142018Mahanta, Susmita (2018) Girish Karnad's The Fire and the Rain and Mahesh Dattani's Dance like a Man: A study of Marginal Identities and Performing Artistshttp://10.2.3.109/handle/32116/1900The two plays under study are Dance Like a Man (1989) by Mahesh Dattani and The Fire and the Rain (1995) by Girish Karnad. The present study proposes to focus on the depiction of marginal identities of performing artists by the societal marginalisation like gender, caste, and class. In the play Dance Like a Man, the life of the dancers is pathetically portrayed as they are never privileged for keeping the classical dancing fresh and alive rather the dancers are marginalised. Politics and Patriarchy serve as an obstacle in the path of dancers like Jairaj, Ratna and Lata. Dancing is chosen as a profession and occupation by the dancers but frequent depreciation by the family members and the society has made them handicapped economically as well as socially. The society, the dancers dwell in, never misses an opportunity to exploit, criticise and blame them. Thus, a chapter of this study is about the marginalisation of the artist on the basis of societal marginalisation. The first marginalisation looked upon in the play for performing artists is gender divide, like how females and males behaving like female are treated. The second marginalisation is class divide and the third is caste. The play, The Fire, and the Rain is about the marginalised actors who are hindered by caste, class, and gender. Acting chosen as a profession by Brahmin was not accepted in the medieval period in India. The actors were termed as low-caste. In this play, religion, politics, and patriarchy are the factors responsible for the marginalisation of the theatre actors. Karnad's, through this play, wants to save theatre by saving the theatre artist by using the tool of myth. This study focuses on unmasking the truth that the profession of an individual is not to be chosen by birth rather it is individual's choice that matters in choosing his/her profession. This study aims to bring out the reasons and consequences for the marginalisation of performing artists depicted in both the plays.en-USPerforming ArtistsMarginalityIdentityCasteClassGenderMaster DissertationT00754