Dr. Sachin Londhe, Associate Professor of English, K. N. Bhise College

Historically, Elizabethan theater refers to plays performed in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Students of theatre often forget Shakespeare was not the only playwright during this time (somewhat understandable when they hear the term “Shakespearean drama” so regularly). Shakespeare’s contemporaries included the likes of Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Heywood and Robert Greene. These and other playwrights also wrote and performed their plays in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Many of the conventions used in public performances of Elizabethan plays were so recognizable, today Elizabethan theatre is not only referred to as a specific period in theatre history, but also as a theatre style. Here are some of the more identifiable acting and staging conventions common to Elizabethan theatre: Soliloquy Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” is literature’s most famous soliloquy. This popular Elizabethan convention is a ...

The God of Small Things  tells the story of one family in the town of Ayemenem in Kerala, India. Its epigraph is a quotation from contemporary writer John Berger: "Never again will a single story be told as though it's the only one." She uses this idea to establish her nonlinear, multi-perspective way of storytelling, which gives value to points of view as "Big" as a human being's and as "Small" as a cabbage-green butterfly's. In Roy's world, there is no definitive story, only many different stories that fuse to form a kaleidoscopic impression of events. The novel opens with  Rahel 's return to Ayemenem after hearing that her twin brother,  Estha , has come home. We switch to the funeral of  Sophie Mol , when the twins are seven years old. Rahel believes that Sophie is awake during her funeral and buried alive. The rest of the family refuses to acknowledge the twins and  Ammu . On the train ride back to Ayemenem, Ammu cannot speak ...