Ratan Thiyam: Thespian who stretched limits of Indian stage

Ratan Thiyam, influential Indian theatre director and founder of Chorus Repertory Theatre, passed away at 77, leaving a profound legacy in theatre.

Ratan Thiyam, one of modern Indian theatre’s most influential directors and the founder-director of Chorus Repertory Theatre in Manipur, passed away in the early hours of July 23 in Imphal.

Ratan Thiyam, one of modern Indian theatre’s most influential directors and the founder-director of Chorus Repertory Theatre in Manipur, passed away in the early hours of July 23 in Imphal. (HT Photo)

He was 77.

Over five decades, he shaped a theatre of discipline and immersion, where visual precision met a deep faith in the actor’s body and its possibilities. Productions like Chakravyuh, Andha Yug, Uttar Priyadarshi, Lengshonnei, and Lairembigee Eshe were more than adaptations of familiar epic narratives. In Thiyam’s