1st Edition

The Neo-liberalization of Political Theatre in Punjab (Pakistan) NGO-isation, Professionalization and Depoliticization

By Qaisar Abbas Copyright 2026
218 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

218 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book is about the four-decade-long struggle of political theatre in the post-colonial society of Pakistan, which started as a response to the dictatorship. It is the cultural history of Pakistan that stands at the intersection of theatre, people’s dreams about a progressive and socialist Pakistan, political movements, the cultural intelligentsia of the country, and the neoliberal regimes... Read more

Introduction; Chapter 1: Political Theatre and its Context in Pakistan; Part 1- Defining political theatre; Part 2: The political and cultural context of Pakistan; Chapter 2: NGO-isation and Political Theatre Groups; Chapter 3: The Changing Creative Politics of the Theatre Groups; Part 1- Ajoka’s Saira aur Maira; Part 2- Politics of Chog Kusumbhey Di (Picking Safflowers); Chapter 4: Ways of Working I: Structures and Working Methods: Offstage Politics of Hierarchy and Discrimination; Chapter 5: Ways of working II: Offstage Creative Spaces (Trainings, Rehearsals and Productions); Conclusion: The Silenced Voices and the Decline of Political Theatre in Punjab; Bibliography, Index 

Biography

Qaisar Abbas is a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow at the School of Art and Creative Technologies, University of York. Earlier, he was a Commonwealth Scholar at Goldsmiths, University of London. He was trained in acting at Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) under the Erasmus Exchange Program and holds a PhD in Drama (Exeter). He has also taught as an Assistant Professor at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.