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Theatre of Relevance got a call from Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Land!
-Manjul Bhardwaj
While theatre fraternity was debating whether theatre brings change or not; Theatre of Relevance got a call from Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Land!
Story about Theatre of Relevance in media was & still disturbing the so called masters of theatre. Who thinks that theatre is what they think. Our National School of Drama is ruining theatre in India. Whoever (there are exception) comes out of this school first destroys theatre to justify their entry in films. Many after getting fame in films say ‘You can’t survive in & through theatre’. I ask them were you begging before you made money in films. My issue with them is about their sermons about theatre. Actually I see hypocrisy in them. Every individual has a choice to do whatever they want to do. I appeal to them to honestly accept it. And to act in Bollywood films you need not any kind of acting training. All super stars in Bollywood prove my point. I have suggestion to Indian government to change the name of drama school i.e. National school of Drama to National school of acting!
We were busy in our theatrical experiments. Once in a blue moon in 1999 I got a call from the land of Bertolt Brecht to perform in his country! I was stunned. I was born in a small village. No one in my family knows anything about theatre. No one has any international connection. I always used my theatre as protest against exploitative government policies & pathetic state of administration in discharging their constitutional obligations, so no scope of government recommendation. I was busy in my theatre experiments in dirty & stingy slums of Mumbai. Not expecting that one day will get an international call to perform. Indian theatre fraternity was grappling to understand my experiments weather I am doing social work or theatre. And here I got an international recognition. One renowned journo asked me, “Your theatre is social theatre.” I replied then whose theatre is anti-social? I said every theatre is social. The difference is your commitment & purpose.
At times incidents in life amazes you. These incidents change your course of Life. Enhances your horizons, Gives you beyond your thoughts. This invitation from the land of Bertolt Brecht was that moment or incident. In India every theatre person come across this name & many perform his plays, many talks about his theory of alienation. Bertolt Brecht is an inspiration for theatre practitioners. You can say it a co incident that I acted in Brecht’s play ‘The exception & the Rule’ in my initial years of theatre & later performed Three Penny opera. Many theatre person quotes Brecht that Theatre has the ethos of revolution in one breathe & next breathe they say even Brecht could not bring revolution.
My point is Brecht did whatever he could do as a mortal. He is not the last truth of Theatre. As we evolve we have to enhance our truth through exploration, experience & experiment. That’s what we did & doing. I ask to all theatre persons that you reflect on your journey. How theatre changed you. Similarly theatre changes every person who experiences the processes of theatre. You become a legend from nothing through theatre; similarly theatre empowers & motivates the audience to fight against injustice of system & state.
The state always fears from artists. An artist is always a rebel. Art basically breaks your status quo. It churns your state all the time. Art is an awaken state. It is formless. It is abstract. Theatre is the process of realizing this abstract & connecting to audience. State never wants an awaken society. Because an awaken society always protest against the injustice of state. So the state nurtured & captured the artist community. First the state divided artist on the purpose of art i.e. Art for art or art for change. Second state has given money, awards & sponsorship to curtail the rebel in the artist. State by conspiracy pushed artists in the world of consumption i.e. alcohol, drugs, sex, scandal & money. This conspiracy of state is to keep ‘art & artists’ in its clutches to curbs the artistic revolution. Those who break these clutched are being jailed or murdered.
What is revolution in art? Revolution in art is not bloodshed to overthrow the governments or empires. Revolution in art is to awaken the human beings. Awaken state of people to safe guard humanity. This we did through Theatre of Relevance. We awaken the children & their parents against the injustice & slavery. This process was to acclaim the rights given in the constitution of India. This process was an Assertion of a free Indian. When a revolution happens through art peace, harmony & humanity prevails, not the bloodshed. Yes we brought revolution through Theatre of Relevance! We need many more such artistic revolutions to make the world better & humane!
….to be continued…
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