The Hindu : New Delhi News : Play with violence as backdrop

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 01, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Play with violence as backdrop

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 31. "Dead body that speaks -- it is like the Buddha that smiles''. Portraying the recent violence in Manipur, members of the Youth For Peace staged a play titled "Essentially Yerma in Imphal'' here in the Capital today.

Taking its peg from the horrific killing of Thangjam Manorama Devi, the play touched on various aspects such as questioning the logic of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958. "Why is it that if you ask a Delhi University student to name 10 authors or even freedom fighters, in 99 out of 100 cases, none of the 10 names will include people from the North Eastern region? This is not because that area does not have authors or freedom fighters. But no one seems to know about them. It is like the separate freshers welcome that is organised for students from North East in Delhi University every year. There is a strong sense of isolation,'' said director of the play, Parnab Mukherjee.

The powerful play, that began with a short video clipping, has used the techniques of third theatre and the strong 70-year-old play "Yerma'' as a subtext. "Yerma revolves around a woman who cannot conceive. But in a way, it was an anti-fascist play at that point in time in Spain. For me, this play connects well with Manipur. The entire bareness could be essentially the way we perceive the North East. The metaphor for me is very strong,'' said Parnab.

Aiming to reach out to students, the play is scheduled to be staged in several colleges at Delhi University, including Lady Shri Ram College, Indraprastha University and Kirori Mal College.

For the Youth For Peace members performing in the play, it was more of a learning experience than actual performance. "We had more discussions that practises! And we actually talked about how people of Manipur might feel. It was a learning experience. Also, in terms of theatre, it was a very experimental play with innovative ideas", said one of the performers.

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