Ratan Thiyam was born on 20 January 1948 and is an Indian playwright and theatre director, and the winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987, one of leading figures of the "theatre of roots" movement in Indian theatre, which started in the 1970s.
16 Facts About Ratan Thiyam
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Also known as Thiyam Nemai, Ratan Thiyam is known for writing and staging plays that use ancient Indian theatre traditions and forms in a contemporary context.
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Ratan Thiyam worked as chairperson of the prestigious National School of Drama from 2013 to 2017.
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Ratan Thiyam had worked as vice-chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi before joining NSD.
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Ratan Thiyam has worked as Director of National School of Drama from 1987 to 1989.
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Ratan Thiyam is the founder-director of Chorus Repertory Theatre, formed on the outskirts of Imphal, Manipur in 1976.
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Ratan Thiyam 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.
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Ratan Thiyam 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.
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Ratan Thiyam graduated from National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1974.
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Ratan Thiyam went on to set up a theatre group called Chorus Repertory Theatre in Imphal, Manipur in 1976.
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Ratan Thiyam was briefly the director of National School of Drama, New Delhi.
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Ratan Thiyam's plays infuse rationalised and multifaceted analysis of myriad perspectives.
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Ratan Thiyam's works are strongly influenced by Natya Sastra, an Indian theatre style propounded by Bharata during the second century BC, as ancient Greek drama, and the Noh theatre of Japan.
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Ratan Thiyam is known for his use of traditional martial arts, of Thang-Ta in his plays, such as in Urubhangam, of Sanskrit playwright Bhasa itself based on an episode from epic, the Mahabharata, which along with Chakravyuh is considered one of his finest works.
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Ratan Thiyam's major plays include Ritusamharam: The work seeks solace and sanity amidst chaos and violence of today's world.
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In 2014, Ratan Thiyam opened a Manipuri adaptation of Macbeth, translocated to a historical Meitei context, with names of characters unchanged.