Richard Schechner on The Ramlila of Ramnagar, India: Outdoor Environmental Theatre

Join world-renown scholar, performance theorist, theater director and author Richard Scheechner for an exciting lecture on the Ramlila of Ramnagar.

Each September and October for 30 or 31 days in Ramnagar, India (across the Ganges River from Varanasi), local people under the guidance of the Maharaja of Banaras enact in detail the life of Rama, Vishnu’s seventh avatar. Each day, they stage another episode of Rama’s life — his birth, training, marriage, exile into the forest with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of Sita by the 10-headed demon king Ravana, the war against Ravana and his demon hordes to recover Sita, Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana’s triumphant return home to Ayodhya where Rama, after re-uniting with his other brothers, Bharata and Shatrughna,  is coronated king of Kosala. Directed by vyases, priest-theatre directors, Ramlila is staged throughout Ramnagar in the streets, fields, in specially built theatrical environments, and inside the palace of the Maharaja.

Thousands of spectators believe that Rama, Sita, and Rama’s brothers are gods incarnate, on earth for this month to enact their great drama. Worshipping these gods is part of the performance. Other figures – divine, demonic, human, and animal – perform their roles in the story of Rama. When Sita is seized by Ravana, Rama leads an army of monkeys and bears — including Hanuman, the devoted monkey warrior — across the sea from India to Lanka where they  slay Ravana  and rescue Sita. Attending each performance, and overseeing the whole event from atop his royal elephant is the Maharaja of Banaras. Each day crowds ranging from 2,000 to 75,000 come to worship, celebrate, and enjoy theatre. Richard Schechner has studied the Ramlila of Ramnagar since 1976. He is the author of many articles about Ramlila and has taken more than 8,000 photographs and many hours of film, the world’s largest archive of this performance.