Theatre for liberation
DIWAN SINGH BAJELI
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Noted theatre director Probir Guha, whose "Victimised" was on the boards at the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, says his Alternative Living Theatre is not just a group but a movement.
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EXPLORING SPACE Probir Guha.
Tattered cardboard boxes are scattered all over the stage. Two performers are trying to grab a chair placed in the centre. A masked figure quietly slides down a rope, incites the performers to fight for the chair and in the process himself occupies it.
This is the opening scene of director Probir Guha's production "Victimized", presented at Abhimanch at the National School of Drama, Bharat Rang Mahotsav, which ended recently. This is a theatre that prides itself in violating conventions of dramatic art. It does not use any language, any written script or any accessories, moving the dramatic action from the proscenium stage to the open lawns, enacting images of oppression and plight of the victimised sinking deeper in their misery and degradation. Guha calls it Alternative Living Theatre.
Interpreting the meaning of the opening imagery, Guha says, "Imperialism has been adopting the same old tactics of divide and rule. This is exactly what is happening in Iraq. The American occupation forces are unabashedly capturing oil resources, ravaging the culture of the people, destroying their liberty."
Guha's unique theatrical experiment came to national attention when he presented "Ahalya" on the lawns of the Sangeet Natak Akademi way back in 1984 at the Natya Samaroh which featured works by talented young directors in quest of a truly indigenous theatre. At the same festival, Bhanu Bharti's "Pashu Gayatri", Ratan Thiyan's "Chakravyuh", Prasanna's "Huliya Neralu" and Bansi Kaul's "Khel Guru Ka" were also presented. These productions are now considered landmark works in the contemporary Indian theatre movement. Over the years, Guha's social concerns and his sympathy for the oppressed and marginalized have acquired depth and urgency. "My experiences and experiments have resulted in the extension of Living Theatre to a new concept called Journey Theatre, which provides actors more opportunity to establish direct contact with the spectators."
Born in 1947, he opened Living Theatre in Khardah, a small town near Kolkata, in 1977. Later, the group broke up and he established Alternative Living Theatre. A student of Jerzy Grotowski, founder of the contemporary experimental Polish theatre company, the Laboratory Theatre, Guha had the privilege of working with him when he came to Khardah to conduct a two-week workshop. He went to Poland to study and experiment in a theatrical medium which Grotowski called "poor theatre", a concept that influenced theatre artistes of the avant-garde. He remained there for five months, imbibing Grotowski's innovations in the art of acting and his revolutionary changes in the concept of theatre.
Despite Guha's training in Grotowski's "poor theatre" he claims that his theatre is his own invention. "I have learnt from my own tradition, recreating it for modern times. Theatre is very much region specific and culture specific. What I learnt from Grotowski is his devotion and commitment to the theatre which is free from illusory devices and which captures life in an authentic manner. His use of the human body has also influenced me. The body movements are not acrobatics but these are spiritual incarnations of the performers."
Different in approach
Widely travelled, Guha has conducted workshops in a number of countries, working with leading innovators of the theatrical art. About the apparent similarity between his theatre and that of Badal Sircar, he says, "In terms of theatre philosophy we appear to be similar, but in approach we are different. His theatre is limited to the urban educated audience. I do theatre for the common man in villages as well as for the city people. My approach is not rigid as far as presentational style is concerned. Sometimes I stage on pavements, roadsides, streets, rooftops, and sometimes I use intimate theatre and proscenium - I use all these areas as space. I love to explore spaces."
To what extent is his Journey Theatre influenced by Richard Schchner with whom he has worked? "Schchner uses a conceptualised theatre, he designs the space. In contrast, my theatre space is improvised. I use nature as it is."
On the future of his kind of theatre, Guha says, "Alternative Living Theatre is not the name of a group, it is a movement. It will grow as people become conscious of their right to use theatre as a medium of self-expression. It has nothing to do with economic viability. It liberates spectators from their passivity, inspiring them to be in direct contact with the actors. The movement for a strong Alternative Living Theatre will grow in the future."
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