THEATRE
Drama empowers
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NEHA PRASAD attended a unique theatre festival that tried to find solutions to social problems.
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SUSHANTO PATRONOBISH
Jana Sanskriti activists performing in Kolkata.
NOVEMBER 17, 2004, saw the beginning of the five-day "Muktodhara: Forum Theatre Festival" in Kolkata that showcased theatre groups from various Indian states. The occasion saw the presence of Julain Boal and theatre professionals from the U.S., France, Canada and Pakistan.
Dynamic idea
Jana Sanskriti was the organisation to practise "Theatre of the Oppressed" in India. It is, on the whole, difficult to conceive of theatre as an active participant in social redressal. Yet Augusto Boal had a very dynamic idea in mind when he first thought of Forum theatre in the 1970s.
The Brazilian theatre theoretician conceptualised a unique form, where team members would dramatise a social problem. After its presentation, the audience would be encouraged to construct and enact solutions to the problem.
Thus, trained activists turned actors would take on the spectators in a dramatic dialogue on the practicality of the solution suggested.
Gradually, feasible answers emerged to be put into practice. Individuals have also gained in moral strength encouraged by this theatre of the oppressed. The initial day began with "Gayer Panchali", a factual dramatisation of the sundry faces of oppression — party leader, doctor, panchayat pradhan or contractor. Interspersed with folk tunes, the play dealt with the plight of the repressed masses.
Urban slum dwellers from Vikaspuri, New Delhi, staged "Laadli Hamari", reflecting how a woman's life changes with marriage. They also interacted with the audience in their search for solutions.
Issues on stage
Successive days saw performances on illegal occupation of tribal land, untouchability, insurgency, public health system, sexual exploitation, political oppression and the Indo-Pak political relationship all under the direction of Sanjoy Ganguly of Jana Sanskriti. The team from Lahore poignantly depicted the similarities between the underprivileged in both the countries.
The team from Gujarat performed the hard-hitting "Ram ke naam". It dealt with Ram's bewilderment on descending to earth. Ram is stunned by the carnage wrought in his name. Its scathing irony was hopefully not lost on the public. "Danga" juxtaposed Ahmedabad a couple of years ago with the Ahmedabad of today.
Apart from the Forum Theatre performances, there were also audio-visual presentations by Simon Malbogat and Luciano Iogna from Canada along with Jane Plastow and Ali Campbell of the U.K.
From its birth in a small village in the Sunderbans in 1986, Jana Sanskriti has 25 theatre teams in West Bengal working towards empowerment of the oppressed communities. Over a thousand people across India are engaged in providing the poor and the exploited with an opportunity to voice their indignation.
More importantly, its adoption of Forum theatre allows the art form to fuse with politics with surprising and positive results.
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