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Ratan Thiyam (20 January 1948 – 23 July 2025) was an Indian playwright, theatre director and teacher from Manipur. He was a leading figure of the post-independence " Theatre of Roots" movement of decolonisation in Indian theatre, along with stalwarts like KN Panikkar, BV Karanth, Habib Tanvir, Bansi Kaul, and Jabbar Patel. In a career spanning over five decades, he is best known for amalgamating traditional Manipuri performance styles with contemporary theatrical forms to create a new language with plays like Uru Bhangam, Karnabharam, Chakravyuha, Ritusamhara, and Uttar Priyadarshi Cody, p. 1348. This won him critical acclaim in India as well as internationally, through his theatre company, Chorus Repertory Theatre, which was formed in Imphal, Manipur in 1976. it soon became a "national hub for experimental, visually rich, and socially responsible theatre". Also known as Thiyam Nemai and Oja (teacher in Meiti), Ratan Thiyam was known for writing and staging plays that use ancient Indian theatre traditions and forms in a contemporary context. Thiyam Nemai A former painter, and proficient in direction, design, script and music, Thiyam was often considered one of the leading contemporary theatre gurus. Theater in Review – 'Nine Hills One Valley' by Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 14 October 2006.
Thiyam was the first graduate of the National School of Drama from Manipur state in 1974, and went on to serve as its chairperson from 2013 to 2017. He had also worked as vice-chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi before joining NSD. He also worked as Director of the National School of Drama from 1987 to 1989. The world's a stage: Theatredoyen Ratan Thiyam on how he conquers space The Hindu, 30 December 2008. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Direction in 1987, given by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, and the Padma Shri given by Government of India in 1989. He was awarded the 2012 Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the performing arts conferred by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. In the year 2013, Ratan Thiyam received an honorary D.lit. from Assam University, Silchar.
His play Chakravyuha (1984) got him immediate praise and is now considered a modern classic. His production of Ajneya's Uttar Priyadarshi in Meitei language was staged at the 1st Bharat Rang Mahotsav (BRM), the annual theatre festival of National School of Drama (NSD), Delhi in 1999, his presentation of Kalidasa's epic poem Ritusamhaara was closing production of 4th BRM in 2002, subsequently the 10th BRM in 2008, which also marked the golden jubilee of NSD, opened at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, with a performance was Prologue, the first part of his Manipur Trilogy, when all past alumni have gathered for the festival. National School of Drama celebrates golden jubilee in style The Economic Times, 12 January 2008. The 12th BRM in January 2010 featured Ratan Thiyam's When we Dead Awaken.
His productions are characterised by tightly choreographed movement sequences, visual tableaux, ritualistic repetitions, silence, minimal dialogue, and nuanced lighting designs, creating a meditative and immersive theatrical experience. His works are strongly influenced by Natya Sastra, an Indian theatre style propounded by Bharata Muni during the second century B.C., as also ancient Greek drama, the Noh theatre of Japan and Metei performing arts. His approach to theatre was shaped by years of study under the tutelage of several major exponents of the traditional Meitei performing arts. Thiyam is also known for his use of traditional martial arts, of Thang-Ta in his plays, such as in Urubhangam (Broken Thigh), of Sanskrit playwright Bhāsa itself based on an episode from epic, the Mahabharata, which along with Chakravyuh (Army Formation) is considered one of his finest works. India – Ratan Thiyam The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Asia/Pacific, by Don Rubin. Published by Taylor & Francis, 2001. . Page 146. In 1986, he adapted Jean Anouilh's "Antigone" as Lengshonnei, a comment on the personal behaviour of politicians, failing to handle political situation in the state. Uttar Priyadarshi (The Final Beatitude), an adaptation of Hindi verse play by playwright and poet Agyeya in 1996, based on a story of redemption of King Ashoka, a man's struggle against his own inner dark side and a plea for peace, knowing its impact on future generation. The play has since travelled to many parts of the South Asia, Australia and the US.
His play Andha Yug (The Blind Age), known for creating an intense and intimate experience, around the epochal theme, was famously staged in an open-air performance, at Tonga, Japan, on 5 August 1994, a day before the forty-ninth anniversary of Atomic Holocaust in Hiroshima.Dharwadker, p. 196
His major plays include Ritusamharam: The work seeks solace and sanity amidst the chaos and violence of today's world. Profile at manipuronline In 2014, Thiyam opened a Manipuri adaptation of Macbeth, translocated to a historical Meitei people context, with names of characters unchanged. It was the opening act at the 2019 inaugural Bangladesh International Theatre Festival.
Death
Thiyam died at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Lamphelpat, Imphal, on 23 July 2025, at the age of 77, after a prolonged illness of post-COVID health complications. Renowned theatre maestro Ratan Thiyam passes away Upon his death, the Manipur state government declared a day of state mourning, and in its message called him, "a towering figure in Indian theatre and a cultural icon of Manipur." His son, Thawai Thiyam, is also theatre actor and director, and a part Chorus Repertory Theatre; he has directed plays like Bacchae, a Meitie adaption of Greek tragedy by same name.
List of plays
Awards
In popular culture
Some Roots Grow Upwards a 2003 documentary by Kavita Joshi and Malati Rao, was based on the life and work of Ratan Thiyam, especially his political ideologies, and his use of theatre as medium of political protest. Open Frame 2003– August 21–27 2003 India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
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External links
Categories: 1948 Births, 2025 Deaths, People From Imphal, Indian Theatre Directors, Indian Male Dramatists And Playwrights, Dramatists And Playwrights From Manipur, Meitei People, Indian Scenic Designers, Indian Drama Teachers, Recipients Of The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, National School Of Drama Alumni, Academic Staff Of The National School Of Drama, Recipients Of The Padma Shri In Arts, Indian Arts Administrators, Recipients Of The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, 20th-century Indian Designers, 20th-century Indian Dramatists And Playwrights, 20th-century Indian Male Writers
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