'The theatre of revolt...' - The Free Press Journal ( 8.3.1998 )
'Street theatre can be a powerful medium for bringing about an awareness in society,' believes Manjul Bharadwaj, who has been actively involved with this genre for almost a decade
By A Purushottam
Armed with questions some probing, some very cliched and also some very interesting ones, you encoun-ter him. And true to his style, by virtue of his being a theatre per son, especially one associated with street theatre', he starts off very dramatically. It's truly exciting and Interesting to watch Majul Bharad waj narrates different aspects of street theatre that he believes in. Speak about the impact of 'Street Theatre'.
He picks up the copy of a news paper, (in which a review of one of his Hindi street plays, Dwand-wa (duel) is published), and starts reading it aloud. The entire street performance comes alive before you. As though, you were present for that performance. The scene is from a household, where the husband is battering his wife for hot conforming the rules he has chalked out and for not following the dictates he has made. And all of sudden he turns his head and questions the people around him the curious audience which has gathered around these people (the performers).."Kya yahan tamasha ho raha hai... ha bhai yahan to tamasha hi ho raha hai... aur aap kyo hans rahe ho.. aap bhi to apni biwi ko aise hi marte, peethte (What are you honge? watching...A drama.. Yes, it's a drama, taking place here. And what are you laughing at ?... You do abuse your wife similarly don't you?)
"Imagine, yourself standing on the street. Enacting something which is very relevant to our times. And believe me, it's done without
any make-up, no props, without eye catching sets or a stage or plat form to perform. It is tough to be a part of the crowd and perform a play, which inturn will grip them (the crowd), provoke them, make them ponder over issues, which are reflective of our times," Manjul ex-plains.
"And using this medium for cre-ating an awareness, for breaking wrong notions, ideas... as a means of awakening people to struggle for their rights; that, according to me is the whole essence of Street play performances," he continues. "This form of theatre is so rich in content, it does not require any sort of gim-mickry." So, in short
'Street Plays' can bring about a change in the atti-tude of the people. These perfor mances are aimed at bringing about a social change. How does his group promote these ideas? These radical changes? "We took up this play, 'Mera Bachpan' (written by Majul himself), and per-formed for the children from var-ious slumschil-dren working in garages, working as domestic help, even children sell-ing eatables or
gajra on the road side. And when we depicted the exploitation, which going behind the 'child labour', their parents were moved. Children identified with the play. Today more than 150 children are going to school. Some of them are going to school. Some of them are even a
part of our group. They perform the same play for others. See, there is a change!" he exclaims.
You counter question him... "Then what about the earning of these chil-dren? The financial support these kids provide to their parents ?.... "It's a myth that these kids pro-
vide any sort of financial support to their families. 80 per cent of them (child labourers) are either school drop out, or not interested in stud-ies. And secondly, some of them are working for free... paid on occasions only, under the guise of apprentice-ship' or 'learning'. Very few of them really provide financial sup-port to their families." "We took up
Street plays: Effective way of reaching out to people
this topic of neglected children, de prived section of the society, and now they are the part of our group...that is the key to our success. You should see how they have start ed believing in themselves. These very children are today being appre-
people to think over the matters," he adds. But, let me explain, Street Theatre', is not sloganeering. It is not just raising a voice against the system'. It is not about making mockery' or 'mimicry' of issues. For that matter, it is not even a me
Manjul recites one of the recent examples from his workshop, con-ducted in Andhra Pradesh. The show after the workshop focussed on the education of the girl child.
"During the depiction of a scene, where the father would not allow his daughter to go to school because he could not afford it, an elderly lady from the audience walked in and said, 'why can't this girl go to school? If you cannot afford it, I will pay for and send her school..." he recollects with a glint in his eyes. "See these things prove how pow-erful media is. And you can force
dium of spreading message using parodies of film songs. It is more than that." he elucidates.
group. Experimental Theatre "That's what we believe in our Foundation. We are social work-ers."
"Yet, I would say that our the-atre's success lies in that we not only perform, but also lend sup-port to different groups in the form of training."
so inturn they are encouraged to "We also felicitate other groups do some good work. We are also involved in documenting the con-cept and process of street theatre," he clarifies.
VALGAAR
"I feel, it is the holistic expression of contents of the is-sue. It is about in-volving people, in true theatrical ex-pression, by equally involving them to participate in writ-ing, in acting, even directing and finally, as part of the audi-ence too." He re-lates another inci-dent involving a play which deal with communal fights, Door Se Kisine Awaz Di
It was performed right in the middle of sensitive areas. And hopefully, some-where, someone re-alised the folly of the whole issue. This is power of street theatre. This is the the richness, the essence of the 'street theatre","
form of folk theatre or traditional "Whatever, one may call it, a theatre. I do not agree with it. I feel it is 'The Third Force'. It is the the-atre of revolt," he concludes
