DesiPundit

Sudraka’s The Clay Cart (Mricchakatika) is currently being performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Sanskrit Literature blog has an interview with Ketu Katrak, Professor of Asian American Studies and Comparative Literature at UC Irvine and Bill Rauch, Artistic Director of OSF.

The parallel between Greek and Sanskrit drama is useful in that both do enjoy modern revivals and perhaps for similar reasons. First, both have to work theatrically for a modern audience and in the fabric of most of these plays, there are elements of spectacle that appeal across cultures. Not all Sanskrit plays would play as well with modern audiences as the Clay Cart does since it is a comedy (a prakarana, one of ten types of Sanskrit dramas, the kind that deals with ordinary people and has humor. Hence an audience member would know that s/he will be entertained humorously).