Arthur Miller, one of the renowned playwrights of America, is famous for his fantastic playwriting technique. He is the one playwright who projected middle-class America with its flaws and merits. He always believed in theater as the mirror of society and is known for successfully experimenting with expressionism on the American stage. Eventually, Death of a Salesman was translated into many languages in the world and staged in different countries. The dramatic technique became so popular that many playwrights were inspired. Mahesh Dattani is one such popular Indian English playwright who uses expressionism successfully on the Indian stage. Dattani is a committed theater practitioner from Bengaluru, a south Indian city. He runs his theater group known as Playpen and stages almost all his plays himself before he allows others to do them. His interest in middle-class Indians is evident in his writings.

The present paper closely studies the use of expressionism by both these playwrights situated on either side of the globe. Though they are writing about different societies, their intention seems to be the same - to show the inner personality of a person or a society. It could be the person in the society or the society itself in which a set of characters live. Miller makes use of expressionism to reveal the psyche of Willy Loman, and thus, brings to our notice the great American dream with an average American caught in it. Dattani picturizes the underbelly of middle-class Indian society, its psyche, and various issues concerned with it. The present paper also examines these two playwrights' usage of the theatrical technique closely.

Expressionism, as an art form, arose in the wake of industrialization and aimed at expressing the psyche of modern men. In an attempt to unmask the inner psyche of individuals, it exerted to present the whole world. Raymond Williams observes that expressionism, as a technique, presents "What life is like when the external pretences are dropped".

Since distorted modern man's psyche is displayed on the stage, the stage and setting are divided into different levels. To present psychological realism, various symbols and symbolic devices are used besides multilevel sets. The setting is deliberately made to look unfamiliar. The time sequence is highly disturbed in order to show the troubled and frustrated human psyche. The plot thus moves forward and backward to present a considerable duration of time on the stage. Along with all these features, expressionistic playwrights make use of masks to unravel the hidden conflicts within the minds of the characters.

The present paper attempts to compare two playwrights from different parts of the world who use the same dramatic technique in almost similar sociological conditions. Arthur Miller, one of the great dramatists from America and Mahesh Dattani, a renowned English playwright from India, use the same theatrical technique - expressionism. While Miller presents a slice of middle-class American society on the stage, Dattani does the same with middle-class Indian society. It is significant to note that both present society through the microcosm of a family. The use of expressionism to present the different societies on the stage acquires significance as theater is proved to be a useful tool for comprehending the cultural identity of the society.

English Studies Journal, Dramatic Techniques, Industrialization, Expressionism, Indian Society, Cultural Identities, Liberalism, Radicalism, Sociocultural Atrocities, Expressionistic Techniques, Sociocultural Conditions.