Do people really understand the effects of state repression when they read and hear about it in the media? Do they feel the pain that thousands go through around the world when their freedom is suppressed in the name of fighting terrorism?
These were the questions that inspired Dr. V. Arumugham, Head of the Department of Performing Arts, Pondicherry University, and who runs the theatre group named Thalai-k-kol, to write and direct the Tamil play titled ‘Actors Are Not Allowed'.
The audience at the play, staged during the World Theatre Day celebrations at the Department on April 18, were not just mere spectators. Rather, they were central to the script, which not only wanted to communicate the atrocities committed by regimes on their citizens in the guise of national security, but also give them a first-hand experience of what the oppressed endure.
The play started with guards checking those in the audience with metal detectors and then leading them into a huge bunker made out of plastic sheets. This colossal “Koodaram,” as Dr. Arumugham put it, was a fortress where people were guaranteed protection by the State from terrorists, who were on the verge of launching a massive attack with chemical weapons.
The highlight
The plastic bunker was easily the highlight of the play. Dr. Arumugham says that it took him three months to get it done. It also showcased how strong visuals form a very important part of his creations.
While dialogue delivered by one of the lead actors, the head of the security force, reiterated the safety of those in the bunker, restrictions were slowly imposed on them, with freedom of speech being the first casualty.
Dissent was brutally put down. Mothers were separated from sons and husbands from their wives.
Anyone who dared to question was considered a challenge to the authority of the State and was eliminated.
Performing their roles with gusto, the actors, all of whom were students at the Performing Arts Department, evoked a spontaneous response from the audience, especially in the scenes when the armed men assaulted them for protesting. As they sat among and mingled with the people watching the play, it was hard to escape the feeling that the person being beaten up was one of us.
Handled with subtlety
The subject of how police states use the media for their propaganda was handled with subtlety by the playwright. Even when human rights were being violated in front of their eyes within the bunker, the audience was kept busy by videos projected on the wall that provided a positive picture about their society. As one of the actors put it, “people do not have minds of their own. They become what they see around them.”
But as resistance grew and people pressed for freedom, the guards did what despotic regimes do in such scenarios: kill people mercilessly.
The play ended with the audience being led into a chamber where bodies of those killed for protesting were piled up. This was an example to others that things would not be different for them if they chose to antagonise the State. The impact of the play lingered long after it was over.
