Even as the ethnic strife in Manipur refuses to abate, the upcoming India Habitat Centre Theatre Festival will showcase the culture and concerns of the northeastern state in a nonverbal play. Directed by Victor Thoudam, Aboriginal Cry questions the development promised to Manipur through half a dozen hydropower projects in a language that doesn’t demand translation.
“Over the years, different governments have sanctioned six dams in the State with the promise of providing drinking water, water for irrigation, and electricity to farmers of the State. So far, only the drinking water problem has been partially solved,” says Victor, a product of the National School Drama, who studied theatre practices in Europe as a recipient of the Charles Wallace scholarship.
Victor prefers working with the body but doesn’t negate the sound and written text. “When I talk to someone, it is the body that reacts first. I am more interested in capturing that movement. I seek to find a synthesis between the body text and the written text.” By incorporating elements of mime, the actors, he says, embody the faulty structures and the system.
The play was first staged in Imphal this January when the tension in the region had temporarily reduced. “I feel arts could be cathartic and help bring people together. Manipur has a rich culture of dance, music, and theatre, and stalwarts like Ratan Thiyam have appealed for peace and dialogue, but it doesn’t make it to the national media.”
A scene from Waiting for Nasser | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Director Srinivas Beesetty also provides a cathartic experience with Waiting For Naseer. Describing the Hindi play as a “philosophical comedy” on the lines of Waiting for Godot, Srinivas says, it is set at the iconic Prithvi theatre where a seasoned and a young actor are eager to get inside to watch a play of thespian Naseeruddin Shah. “The catch is they have only one ticket and that the two are dead. One has to reveal himself to watch the play.”
A celebration of theatre where Naseer, without his physical presence, represents a milestone that every actor wants to reach, a space where art doesn’t remain just a means to success but a tool for catharsis, Srinivas says the play explores why one chooses a particular art form. “Anyone related to arts will identify with the feeling that the more one understands, the more you realise that there is a lot left to grasp. Naseer symbolises the feeling. He doesn’t need validation but is still taking newer challenges in theatre, and is ready to be vulnerable.”
Jerry Pinto | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The ten-day festival, featuring an eclectic mix of modern and traditional theatre, will open with Jerry Pinto’s A Life in Poetry which seeks to counter the perception that poetry is out of fashion in a pragmatic world. In a freewheeling format where the written word takes the form of performance art, the noted poet and writer has woven his poetry with translated abhangs of women Marathi poets and poems of Narayan Gangaram Surve.
Pinto says there is a lot of loose talk about the death of poetry. “It doesn’t sell, we are told. It doesn’t interest people, we are told. Publishers won’t touch it, we are told.” And despite all these lies and rumours, Pinto says, poetry persists. “In moments of sadness, we reach for a line from Ghalib. In moments of joy, we reach for Mary Oliver’s verse. In moments of heartbreak about the state of the nation, we reach for Sahir Ludhianvi. In moments of rage, we turn to Sylvia Plath or Yeats or whoever. There is poetry worked into our blood and our guts...”
(At Stein Auditorium, IHC, Lodhi Road; September 20 to 29; 7pm)
Published - September 19, 2024 11:32 pm IST
