Assignment 2 - Theatre Comparison

Based on the clips from Broadway in New York and theatre in Lahore, please compare the two from a cultural point of view. Please indicate whether you think of them as high culture or low culture or neither, why or why not?

If we consider the definitions of “high culture” and “low culture” as those proposed by Warren Kidd in his book Culture and Identity, then it may be fairly easy to describe Broadway (the New York theatre) as being part of the high culture and the Lahore (Punjabi) theatre as being part of the low culture. When we look at some of the plays at Broadway, such as Spiderman – Turn off the Dark, The Lion King or War Horse etc., we find that these plays are highly artistic and intellectual. From stage setups to costumes, everything seems to have been given an extreme level of attention and care. The plays are mostly adaptations of Hollywood movies, comics or novels and thus they are aimed at a targeted audience with an “exclusive taste not shared by ordinary people”. (Kidd)

Whereas the Lahore (Punjabi) theatre mostly has parodies of Bollywood or Lollywood movies which even have songs from different Bollywood or Lollywood movies (such as the play Ghonghat Utha Lon or Chalis Chor etc.) (YouTube, 2010). The usage of such songs makes the plays easily understood/acceptable for the common people of the area (due to their exposure to, specially, Bollywood movies). The plays mostly entertain their audience through dance and comedy (Chaudhry, 2010). The static stage sets and repetitive costumes also show that the plays are mostly produced with low budgets so that they can be easily made available to the masses of the area. While Broadway tickets start from US$ 80-90 (and go as much as US$ 300) (Broadway, 2011), Lahore theatres are easily accessible for PKR 200-500.

From an anthropological point of view, however, both the theatres are an important part of their respective cultures. Both of them provide some common functions (such as economic/financial benefits and entertainment) even though they may be targeting different segments of the society and may be using different ways to keep their (targeted) audience hooked! Some of the differences are also apparent due to their being in (economically and technologically) different parts of the world. Therefore, while they may be different, yet both of them still play an important role of preserving a part of their culture.

Bibliography

YouTube. (2010, April 30). Retrieved August 16, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=PUNJABI+STAGE+DRAMA+GHONGHAT+UTTA+LON+9+14+npia757.avi&aq=f

Broadway. (2011). Retrieved August 16, 2011, from www.broadway.com

Chaudhry, N. (2010, September 24). News Night - Theater Or Obscene Entertainment by Najam Wali Khan. (N. W. Khan, Interviewer)

Kidd, W. (n.d.). Culture and Identity.