Theatre as a Weapon against Fascism: A Case Study of Two Bengali Plays Mephisto and Barricade

This essay examines the function of theatre as a tool for political resistance through a comparative analysis of Mephisto (2002) and Barricade (1972), two Bengali plays that criticize the recurrence of fascist tendencies in historical and present settings. Premised on Bertolt Brecht’s dialectical theatre and Utpal Dutt’s revolutionary dramaturgy, the study focuses on how these performances use Verfremdungseffekt, agitprop aesthetics, and historical re-enactment to combat authoritarian systems on stage and create an ‘efficacy’ beyond its corporeal set-up. The play Barricade reinforces a radical theatrical space inspired by the Weimar crisis to criticize India’s oppressive machinery in the 1970s, while Mephisto investigates artists’ participation in maintaining and, at the same time, challenging hegemonic power. Both the plays promulgate the idea of ‘collective’ consciousness through ‘spectacular’ visuals for reflecting the historical consciousness amidst contemporary viewership. The inquiry situates these works within the historiography of communist theatre as a site of counter-hegemonic action, drawing on Raymond Williams’ categories of residual and emerging cultural forms, as well as Rebecca Schneider's notion of ‘performance remains.’ This study contends that theatre functions as both an archival and insurgent medium, able to mobilize public consciousness against the expanding nexus of authoritarianism and neoliberal capital. It does this by drawing on Baz Kershaw's concept of theatrical ‘efficacy.’ The essay highlights the ongoing significance of political theatre in opposing current fascist cultural consolidation in the ‘post-truth’ era by contextualizing these performances within Bengal’s vis-à-vis India’s changing political scene.