The answer is NO. Theatre is considered as a struggle by a common man against society’s iniquity, theatre is a way of expression to the eternal world; theatre is the only medium which speaks about integrity. History books take us back to a very interesting story which speaks about the origin of theatre during the Greek period.
There were three types of drama composed in the city of Athens; Tragedy, Comedy and Satire. The origins of Athenian tragedy and comedy are far from clear, but they began as (and continued to be) a part of the celebrations of the god Dionysus, which were held once a year. Every year three authors were chosen to write three dramas. All the plays were played in the Dionysos theatre in Athens, and the best author for both tragedy and comedy was chosen.

As time evolved, the dramas of medieval period concentrated more on vernacular languages of Europe from religious enactments of the liturgy. Mystery plays were presented on the porch of the cathedrals or by strolling players on Feast days, which evolved into tragic and comic forms, depending on the theme. The first truly secular plays in Europe were historical plays, celebrating the lives of historical or legendary kings; these combined the functions of entertainment and propaganda.

These brief facts leave us with a small hint that Theatre/ Drama was started purely for entertainment purposes, but as we advance into the medieval period, theatre was considered as an outlet to express feelings. Love, lust, anger, jealousy, madness, laughter and struggle, with so many expressions hidden and suppressed, common man wanted a vent though which he could pump out all his expressions. He used theatre to do it.

As we turn the pages of history and come towards the closing of 18th century, theatre had slowly evolved into a platform for revolution, legendary warriors, freedom fighters and revolutionaries who used theatre as a means of public platform to propagate their views, ideas and vision.

Theatre today has a unique ability, allowing us to witness and experience another person’s feelings or to sense a situation that we would not normally encounter such as, being a General in a war. This is what makes drama a useful way of teaching, learning and growing as a person. Drama has a holistic way of teaching people. Whether it be in a play or by partaking in a virtual situation, participants learn through interactions with others — this allows participants to not only learn facts as they would from a book or in a classroom, but to enter the world of another person, to be allowed to explore how they feel about this situation or person. Every interaction with another character or situation gives a greater understanding of what is happening around us.

Theatre brings a whole new meaning to our lives, a brand new imagination and thinking; it allows us to enter that virtual world that no other medium dares to venture. Drama is a living, breathing art form. Actors are placed on stage, so that they can breathe life into the characters that have been created by the playwrights; this is what no other entertainment medium offers.

Very evidently, in today’s world, Drama Therapy is often considered an effective treatment for people who have had severe emotional and psychological problems.
From being an entertainment factor to today’s drama therapy, theatre has been part and parcel of every one’s life. As William Shakespeare quoted “Life is a stage and people are mere actors”, theatre has evolved itself from an entertainment platform to a passion.

Today theatre is practiced to bring the lost culture into light, to lift it up amidst the waves of technology, to bring in a new revolution, to create a new platform where people can showcase their hidden talents. Theatre today is set to bring back its lost glory, to induce the power of theatre in people. Theatre is believed to be a “humble man’s struggle” against increasing injustice, poverty and illiteracy.

Fundamentally, it’s in our own hands to bring back our lost tool, our lost platform and passion instead of merely asking the question, “What’s the point?”

The origin of theatre in ancient India or rather folk theatre and dramatics can be traced to the religious ritualism of the Vedic Aryans. This folk theatre of the misty past was mixed with dance, food, ritualism, plus a depiction of events from daily life. It was the last element which made it the origin of the classical theatre of later times. Many historians, notably D. D. Kosambi, Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, Adya Rangacharaya, etc. have referred to the prevalence of ritualism amongst Indo-Aryan tribes in which some members of the tribe acted as if they were wild animals and some others were the hunters. Those who acted as mammals like goats, buffaloes, reindeer, monkeys, etc. were chased by those playing the role of hunters.

In such a simple and crude manner did the theatre originate in India about 3500 years back in the Indo-Aryan states of Rig Vedic times. There also must have existed a theatrical tradition in the Harappan cities (civilizations).

Natya Shastra

Indian history about theatre cannot be explained without taking the name of Bharat Muni . Bharata Muni (2nd century BC) was an ancient Indian writer best known for writing the Natya Sastra of Bharatha, a theoretical treatise on Indian performing arts, including Theatre, dance, acting, and music, which has been compared to Aristotle’s poetics.

Bharata is often known as the father of Indian theatrical arts. His Natya Shastra seems to be the first attempt to develop the technique or rather art, of drama in a systematic manner. The Natya Shastra tells us not only what is to be portrayed in a drama, but how the portrayal is to be done. Drama, as Bharata Muni says, is the imitation of men and their doings (loka-vritti). As men and their doings have to be respected on the stage, so drama in Sanskrit is also known by the term roopaka which means portrayal.

The Natya Shastra is incredibly wide in its scope. It consists of minutely detailed precepts for both playwrights and actors. Bharata describes ten types of drama ranging from one to ten acts. In addition, he lays down principles for stage design, makeup ,costume , dance (various movements and gestures), a theory of Aesthetics (rasas and Bhavas),Acting , Directing and Music each in individual chapters.

Bharata sets out a detailed theory of drama comparable to the poetics of Aristotle. He refers to bhavas(feelings), the imitations of emotions that the actors perform, and the rasas (emotional responses) that they inspire in the audience. He argues that there are eight principal rasas: love, pity, anger, disgust, heroism, awe, terror and comedy, and that plays should mix different
rasas but be dominated by one.

According to the Natya Shastra, all the modes of expression employed by an individual through his speech, gestures, movements and intonation must be used. The representation of these expressions can have different modes, according to the predominance and emphasis on one mode or another. Bharatamuni recognises four main modes: speech and poetry (bharati vritti), dance and music (kaishiki vritti), action (arabhatti vritti) and emotions (sattvatti vritti).

Classical Indian Theatre

The Ramayana and Mahabaratha can be considered as the first recognized plays that originated in India. These epics provided the inspiration to the earliest Indian dramatists and they do even today. Indian dramatists such as Bhasa (c.2nd century BC) wrote plays that were heavily inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Kalidasa (1st century BC) is arguably considered to be ancient India’s greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Three famous romantic plays written by Kalidasa are the MALAVIKAGNIMITRAM and ABHIGNANA SHAKUNTALAM (The Recognition of Shakuntala), it was the first to be translated into English and German.

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On a chilly morning of January 24, 1848, James Marshall woke up with no stomach for work. He was hired by John Sutter to build a sawmill on one of his lands in Coloma, California. Half hearted, he went out to the site and started his day. While digging a water channel for the mill, Marshall found a few bright lumps that he believed were made of gold. He burrowed around the millrace itching to find some more nuggets. Succeeding in his quenchless wishes, he did found some more and smashed one of the nuggets between two rocks. The nugget flattened but didn’t break into pieces. It was gold.

Thereupon started one of the largest quests in man’s history as more than half a million people opted for a nomadic life in California where gold was being searched and successfully found in many places. People from around the country and from across the oceans were on their way to the land with a golden lining. The gold rush was on.

Over the next few years men gave up on their loved ones for the love of gold and took off on a journey to swarm the newly found paradise. In 1853, a ship sailed from New York, destined for San Francisco. When the ship cleared enough distance for the golden land to be seen, men thronged the deck and gasped sighs of hope and excitement looking at the land that embraced their dreams to be realized. An old man appeared from a corner and walked alongside the crowded deck. In all this restlessness, he found a young man of 24, standing their with an aura of exorbitant tranquility on his face but with a zealous light reflecting the ocean waves in his eyes.

The old man felt that sensation of nonconformity in this man and approached him. “In search of golden days young man?” he asked him with a conviction of finding an unusual answer. The young, intervened in his thoughts, looked at the old fellow, gave him a polite smile but uttered no words. With curiosity unfolding, the old man asked, “What’s your name fellow?” This time the young chap opened his mouth, with his smile shifting to his eyes, he answered the old man, “Strauss, Levi Strauss.” The old man gathered a faint smile on his lips, looking at his dress and luggage, chided him, “Well Strauss, you haven’t brought along enough supply of pants with you. When you go mining, this is one thing you will need more than anything young man. This golden place is real rough on you.” Young Strauss looked at him, gave him another smile and started looking at the city at a distance of reachable glances.

This young man, Levi Strauss, chided for not having enough supply of durable pants, gave the world the most quintessential dress of all times… the Blue Jeans.

Born on February 26 1829 in Buttenheim, Bavaria, he was named “Loeb” by his parents. In 1847, two years after the death of his father, Loeb emigrated to New York to join his step brothers Jonas and Louis who had started their own wholesale textile and tailoring business in that city. “Levi”, as often called by his family and the customers alike, spent most of his time learning the language and the customs of his new homeland as well the traits and secrets of his business. Resolute in his mind to start his independent business, one day he convinced his brothers to represent their company “J. Strauss Brother & Co.” in California.

A world was moving in quest of golden sunshine discovered in the swart mines of California. Levi Strauss, however, wasn’t prying for the ‘gold rush’, he had other plans. He wanted to sell his goods to the hordes of miners. Everyday, hundreds of miners would ensemble in the town center of California to outfit themselves before heading off to reap the crop of gold. Strauss decided he would take up the trade of helping and equipping these treasure hunters. In 1853, he took off on a ship to California carrying with him a supply of silk, cloth and a few luxury items. There was one other thing included in his baggage; a supply of canvas. He thought he would use this canvas to fit out the Conestoga Wagons used by gold hunters to travel around. He didn’t know that time and fate had other plans.

During his voyage, he ended up selling every piece of merchandise he had with him; except the canvas. It was a bright and fresh morning in the month of March, when his ship reached the oceanic outskirts of California. Standing at the deck, silent as the ocean underneath, he was thinking about the prospects of his success in the new city when an old man approached him and sarcastically pointed towards the lack of gear needed for mining gold. He looked at the old man and smiled; while heaven above was smiling on him.

Reaching California, Strauss wandered over the place for a while looking for a suitable place to start his business. At 90 Sacramento Street, he finally found a place closer to his heart and closer to the coast as well. This was a port after stormy seas and his ship was coming home. Having sold all his goods on his way to California, Strauss was left with only one asset at hand; the canvas. Recollecting what the old man had said to him, Strauss smiled again, cut the canvas and knitted it into trousers.

A fresh constellation of miners was flocking the city again in need of arraying their apparel while something astoundingly inventive was waiting for them. Straus welcomed them with his nouveau arrivé article. Without any hesitancy, these trousers were an instant hit and the name Levi Straus divulged into the synonymous of a new breed of clothing. This seal of approval was so emotive that he named his growing business as simple as “Levi Strauss”.

The business was looming up and Strauss was getting busier and busier, receiving shipments of supplies from his brothers in New York and selling them in California. In some time, Strauss deviated from Canvas to “serge de Nimes”, Denim – dyed with indigo; a product that still shadows the true quality of jeans. Up till now, Strauss sold these pants calling them ‘overalls’ however a man called Alkali Ike, with his bizarre manners was to unknowingly hasten the evolution of modern day jeans.

A husky fellow, Ike was one of the countless miners hunting for better prospects of their future. After long and tiresome working days in the gold mines, he would take a breather and go to Virginia City saloon. Each time he appeared in the saloon, he would get drunk and go on a cursing spree around the town. Amongst those he would visit during this intoxicated orgy was his tailor, Jacob W. Davis. Entering his shop, Ike would complain to him of his torn out trouser pockets and Davis would tell him it only happens because of his habit of keeping nuggets in his pant pockets. “But why cant you make them as strong as Strauss’s overalls?” Ike would keep murmuring. Exhausted of his constant whining, one day an idea glinted in Davis’ mind and he clamped the pockets together with copper wire.

A few weeks later, Ike appeared again in front of his shop but this time not drunk. In fact, he hadn’t even gone to the saloon but came straight to Davis to tell him that his pockets had held together. This bracing news gave Davis another idea; deciding to apply for a patent on his invention. However, the authorities required $68 to file the patent application and Davis didn’t have that much money with him at that time. He roved around in his mind thinking of a person who could partner with him in this venture. The only name that came to his mind was none other than Levi Strauss.

The moment Strauss received that letter from Davis asking for a partnership in this new invention, he knew he was going for it. On July 5, 1872 Levi Strauss and Jacob W. Davis applied for a patent and on May 20, 1873, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office they received the documented proprietorship of their invention; ciphered 139,121. That day is generally considered to be the ‘birthday’ of the blue jeans.

In one of the early posters he got printed for his revived company “Levi Strauss & Co”, Strauss marked these words; “all over the west they wear LEVI STRAUSS & CO copper riveted overalls”. He preferred calling these denim pants ‘overalls’ instead of jeans and it wasn’t until 1960s that the word jeans became a familiar term.

Over the next twenty years, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis went on to produce high quality denim overalls and these durable pants became a proverbial element of everyday dress of the working class. The last century witnessed the jeans becoming synonymous of casual dress. Today jeans is the most commonly worn dress in the world and next time you wear a Levi ® jeans, remember that it has an eventful history behind it.

The End