Unit IV: Postcolonial and Multicultural

Summary

Unit IV focuses on theatrical works that emerge from formerly colonised societies, highlighting how they negotiate the legacies of empire, cultural hybridity, and diasporic experience. The unit begins with an overview of postcolonial theory—covering ideas such as Edward Said’s Orientalism, Homi Bhabha’s mimicry and the third space, Gayatri Spivak’s subaltern, and Stuart Hall’s cultural identity—before moving into practical applications. Two case studies anchor the discussion: Girish Karnad’s Kannada-language folk‑drama Nagamandala and David Henry Hwang’s Asian‑American play M. Butterfly. Through close reading, performance analysis, and critical commentary, students learn to identify how these texts both draw on and transform indigenous forms while engaging with global discourses of power, gender, and sexuality.

Characters

Nagamandala

• Kurudavva – A blind woman whose yearning for love drives the central conflict; she embodies both subservience and hidden agency.
• Rani – Kurudavva’s husband, whose affection is initially elusive, representing patriarchal authority.
• The Naga (Serpent God) – Assumes human form to court Kurudavva, symbolising desire, rebirth, and the liminal space between human and divine.
• The Man (Frame Narrator) – A skeptical commentator who questions the tale’s truth, creating a layered narrative and inviting audience reflection.
• Supporting Figures – Villagers, priests, and ritual performers who enrich the folk‑ritual context.

M. Butterfly

• René Gallimard – A French diplomat whose fantasies about the “submissive Asian woman” shape his relationship with Song Liling.
• Song Liling – A Peking opera performer who presents as a woman; actually a male spy, embodying gender fluidity and political intrigue.
• Comrade Chin – Song’s handler, representing the political machinery behind the espionage.
• Helga – Gallimard’s wife, whose presence underscores the protagonist’s domestic disillusionment.
• Various Diplomats and Officials – Figures that illustrate the East‑West power dynamics of the Cold War era.

Plot

Nagamandala

1. Kurudavva, blind and neglected, seeks a love potion from a local sorceress to win her husband Rani’s affection.
2. The potion, however, is mistakenly ingested by a serpent deity, causing the Naga to fall in love with her.
3. Assuming a handsome human guise, the Naga visits Kurudavva at night, and they conceive a child.
4. Through a series of rituals, dreams, and revelations, the community learns of the divine liaison.
5. Kurudavva’s status shifts as she gains spiritual power, yet she remains constrained by societal expectations.
6. The frame narrator, the Man, intermittently questions the authenticity of the tale, prompting the audience to consider truth versus myth.
7. The play concludes with the child’s birth, the Naga’s return to serpent form, and a reflection on the enduring nature of folklore.

M. Butterfly

1. René Gallimard, a bored French diplomat in Beijing, attends a performance of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and becomes enamoured with the lead performer, Song Liling.
2. Believing Song to be a demure Asian woman, Gallimard embarks on a twenty‑year affair, during which Song supplies him with classified information.
3. The relationship is marked by Gallimard’s Orientalist fantasies and Song’s careful performance of femininity.
4. Political tensions rise; Song is revealed to be a male spy working for the Chinese government.
5. Gallimard is arrested for espionage and faces trial, where his delusions are exposed.
6. In prison, Gallimard confronts the reality of his self‑deception, ultimately choosing to die by his own hand while dressed as Butterfly, reenacting the opera’s tragic finale.
7. The play ends with a Brechtian direct address, urging the audience to reflect on stereotyping, desire, and power.

Themes

Analysis

Both plays exemplify how postcolonial and multicultural frameworks illuminate the interplay of culture, power, and identity. In Nagamandala, Karnad employs Yakshagana and Bhavai conventions to assert cultural autonomy. The frame narrator’s skepticism invokes Homi Bhabha’s concept of mimicry: the Man’s doubt mirrors the colonised subject’s simultaneous adoption and subversion of colonial discourses. Kurudavva’s concealed agency aligns with Spivak’s subaltern—she speaks through the divine Naga, a voice that the patriarchal structure cannot fully silence. The turmeric‑stained hands motif operates as a symbol of purity that is simultaneously contested, echoing the ambivalence of postcolonial identity.

In M. Butterfly, Hwang deconstructs Orientalist fantasies by exposing Gallimard’s projection of the “submissive Asian woman” onto Song Liling. The play’s metafictional layers—reference to Puccini’s opera, the real‑life Boursicot‑Shi Pei Pu affair, and Brechtian alienation—serve to destabilise the audience’s certainty, a technique akin to Bhabha’s third space where meaning is negotiated. Song’s gender performance illustrates Judith Butler’s theory of performativity: femininity is not an essence but a repeated act that can be appropriated for political ends. The trial scene functions as a public spectacle of power, revealing how Western legal systems attempt to contain and categorise the colonial other.

A comparative analysis reveals converging concerns: both works use performance as a site of resistance. Karnad revitalises regional aesthetics for urban audiences, thereby challenging the hegemony of proscenium‑centric, Eurocentric theatre. Hwang, writing within the American multicultural theatre movement, reclaims Asian subjectivity from the margins of mainstream stages. The plays also demonstrate how myth and opera, traditionally viewed as static, high‑culture forms, become living narratives that address contemporary anxieties about gender, sexuality, and postcolonial identity.

“Theatre is the place where we learn to see ourselves as both the observer and the observed.” – Adapted from Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture

Conclusion

Unit IV demonstrates that postcolonial and multicultural theatre is not merely a reflection of historical trauma but an active arena for renegotiating identity, power, and representation. Through Nagamandala and M. Butterfly, students witness how indigenous forms and Western genres can be hybridised to produce critical dialogues that resonate across cultures. The analytical tools introduced—mimicry, subalternity, gender performativity, and diasporic consciousness—provide a robust methodological framework for interpreting a wide range of global dramatic works. Ultimately, the unit equips learners to appreciate theatre’s capacity to challenge dominant narratives, amplify marginalized voices, and envision new possibilities for cultural exchange in an increasingly interconnected world.