Acclaimed French theatre artist Ariane Mnouchkine engages with the avant-garde as much as she draws from a classical treatise such as the Natya Shastra.
Ms. Mnouchkine, who co-founded Paris-based Théâtre du Soleil, will be bringing her theatre group’s “école nomade” to Puducherry this December, expected to be part of the Indo-French cultural festival, Bonjour India.
The “école nomade,” a mobile school of sorts, aims at taking the tools of theatre to different countries through workshops, in an experience of sharing and learning. The école nomade, which will be a “big thing” in the words of Ms. Mnouchkine will see the participation of around 150 theatre practitioners and enthusiasts from across India. To be entirely free for the participants, the organisers, which includes the Alliance Francaise in Puducherry, will be looking to raise funds in the coming months.
Ms. Mnouchkine is no stranger to Indian art form. In Théâtre du Soleil’s productions of Twelfth Night and Les Atreus, she drew from forms such as Kathakali, Bharathanatyam and Koodiyattam, and has also relied on the treatise on Indian performing arts Natya Shastra for her works. “Indian culture has been very generous to the theatre form. I saw a Therukoothu performance at Pondicherry University. It opened a treasure box for me and took me to the origin or spring of theatre,” she said.
While here, Ms. Mnouchkine visited and interacted with theatre groups in the region, Indianostrum and Adishakti. “I sense a lot of openness and desire for knowledge here. It was nice to see that people here know so much about our theatre,” she said. Though she has not met the late Veenapani Chawla, founder of Adishakti, she has followed and admired her work, said Ms. Mnouchkine. “Adishakti started with little and has built something wonderful.”
The lack of patronage of arts in India came up during discussions at Adishakti. Ms. Mnouchkine said that in the void left by the decline of royal patronage of arts, the State must step in to fill the gap. There is a need for the political class to have a strong policy for culture in India, said Ms. Mnouchkine, adding that art is a tool of civilisation.
“Indian culture is a treasure not just for her citizens but for world citizens.” While acknowledging the economical difficulties faced by modern Indian theatre, she said that practitioners “have to fight and not abandon” their art.
For theatre practitioners here, Ms. Mnouchkine’s visit and plans for holding the école nomade in Puducherry has given the arts here a vital boost. “Ariane Mnouchkine is an inspiration. Her visit alone has energised us,” said Vinay Kumar, artist at Adishakti. The artists at Adishakti have learnt much about their craft from Ms. Mnouchkine’s works, and have also been referred to them by Veenapani Chawla, he said.
Koumarane Valavane, founder of Indianostrum theatre, and who has worked with Ms. Mnouchkine in the play Le Dernier Caravanserail, said, “Ms. Mnouchkine made us realise the contribution of traditional Indian forms to actor’s training. It is great that the école nomade is coming here. She will be a wonderful guide, a guru in the true sense, for today’s theatre practitioners in India. She makes the impossible possible. Our art forms need such gurus.”