Legend of Indian theatre Ratan Thiyam passed away earlier today at a hospital in Imphal. The lauded playwright and writer was 77 years old and was ailing for some time. His demise has come as a shock to the theatre fraternity and condolensces and remembrances have started pouring in.
Theatre Fraternity grieves the demise of Padma Shri Ratan Thiyam
Ratan Thiyam, was born and brought up in Manipur before he moved to the National School of Drama for his education. Since then there was no looking back. In fact, he created his own style of theatre presentation where he made use of traditional theatre techniques to stage plays for a modern audience. He also formed the Chorus Repertory Theatre, which is well known to have toured around India and the world with its theatre performances.
Assamese Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X, "A leading light of the Theatre for Roots movement, Shri Ratan Thiyam dedicated his life to bring indigenous theatre and art practices to the global stage. A Padma awardee, his productions were rich in both talent and messaging. My deepest condolences on his demise. Om Shanti.”
The Sangeet Natak Akademi winner had also made several trips to Kolkata for theatre is also well remembered by industry colleagues from West Bengal. Rudraprasad Sengupta recalls his long-standing association with Thiyam and remembers how they used to meet late-nights to discuss plays. He says, “He [Thiyam] was a very down-to-earth person and had no problems in sharing a small room with me as discussions ran till late at night.” Thiyam also used to visit the theatre festival organised by Sengupta’s group Nandikar.
Kaushik Sen who runs the group Swapna Sandhani also mentions that he had met Thiyam at both Nandikar Festival and one organised by his own group. He says, “I remember both of us adapted Macbeth in our respective productions. I also had a chance to meet him at a seminar organised at the National School of Drama.The last time, I think, I met him was when he had come to attend the Swapna Sandhani theatre festival in 2008-09. He had a distinct style of political theatre with influence from the rich heritage of Manipur.”