Theatre of unrest: Where artists capture the suppressed cry of dissent in India

Actor, poet and theatre director Danish Husain's latest production, a filmed theatrical performance of one of the most well-known pieces of writing, ‘Draupadi', makes clear the reasons why a short story by Bengali author Mahasweta Devi from 1978 is still relevant to the prohibitive times in which we are living.

Screened on October 17, ‘Draupadi' is one of the twelve pieces selected for the ‘Theatre from the Streets: India Project', curated by writer, actor and activist Mallika Sarabhai. Hosted by the New Perspectives Theatre Company, New York, the performances - from India, Palestine, Lebanon and Venezuela - bring to light issues of the marginalised communities and alternative narratives that are suppressed or neglected by the state.

A bit of context: on August 24, the Delhi University Academic Council had dropped ‘Draupadi' from the BA (Honours) syllabus, stating that the story defamed the Indian army. The council also removed the works of two well-known Dalit writers - Bama and Sukirtharini. The move met with opposition from 15 council members, who submitted a dissent note against the oversight committee's functioning, but they went largely unheard.

Husain's eight-minute-long play, available for viewers on the YouTube page of his The Hoshruba Repertory, is an adaptation of the third and the last section of ‘Draupadi'. While the original was about a woman from the Santhal tribe and set in the backdrop of the Naxal upsurge of the 1970s, the new theatrical piece highlights the violence against women in the north-east and their protest against the atrocities of the men in uniform.

When asked about the choice of Mahasweta Devi's story from among the works by the three writers which were removed from the DU syllabus, Husain says, "Draupadi was a multi-layered story. It does not just look at violence against women, it also looks at state terror, censorship, the absolute devotion to nation states and the idea of patriotism. All of them are relevant to us and we need to talk about this story, which brings out all of this together beautifully. So for me, that was one of the reasons why I went after this story."

Danish Husain read through Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's translation of ‘Draupadi' and realised that the final section of the story leads beautifully to a theatrical performance. Photo credit: Anusha Yadava.

With minimal background score and playing with light and shadows, the video mainly focuses on the facial expressions of the various actresses and on Husain's narration, which successfully manage to hook the viewer till the end of the story.

"I wanted the video to have elements of a theatrical performance. When we were designing the video, I told my actors that you are not Draupadi to begin with. You're just a woman listening to her story, as empathetically as you can, and as the story progresses towards its climax, from a listener, you transform into a performer and you become Draupadi by the end of it," adds Husain.

The art of protest

Launched on August 1, ‘Theatre from the Streets' is a series of theatrical performances, conducted by an alliance of theatre women across the world, based on the issues of marginalised communities from each member country and those which provide a true picture as opposed to the versions presented by state media. For its pilot project, the countries of Palestine, Venezuela and India were chosen.

Emphasising on issues ranging from the violence against women, censorship, crackdown on dissent to the exploitation of tribal communities and the environment, Sarabhai says she aimed to engage with artists who were bold and ready to speak up through their works.

"I wanted artists who felt passionately about a cause and wanted to scream. And I wanted the idea of theatre to be expanded to what it is classically in India - all-encompassing, including all forms of performance and art," she adds.

The webinars which were held on successive Sundays, from September 26 to October 17, featured the works of Quasar Thakore Padamsee; Pinty Padmavati Rao; V. Balakrishnan; Pratishtha Pandya, Laboni, and Yadavan Chandran; Anju Uppal and Prabir Bose; Bharati Kapadia and Abeer Khan; Sohini Ray; Sanjukta Wagh; Shakthi Ramani; Tritha Sinha and Danish Husain. The four moderators were Madhavi Menon, Githa Hariharan, Sumangala Damodaran, and Sudhavna Deshpande.

One of the theatrical pieces included is an adaptation of the poem ‘Dear Judge Sahib' by Swaraj Singh Bir about the death of Mahavir Narwal, father of Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal, while she was still in jail and was denied bail to visit her ailing father before it was too late. The poem was recited and performed by Sarabhai and was created by Yadavan Chandran. ‘Red Ants', written and narrated by Pratistha Pandya, is another poem that made it to the selection. The poem takes us through the issues of migrant workers, who were the worst hit by the sudden lockdown in 2020 without any immediate aid and relief.

When asked about the process involved in curating the list, Sarabhai says, "I approached about fifty artists across the country, inviting them to be part of this international effort. It was difficult getting even the twelve I needed, whose artistry and courage I could depend upon. But in the end, the lineup is exciting, the issues varied and the styles invigorating."

The entire series will soon be available on YouTube for the public.

The role of artists today

‘Theatre from the Streets' project intends to view and discuss narratives which enlighten an international audience about the harsh realities of oppression of the marginalised population and of those who dare to speak, write or act against the establishment in their country.

"Each individual work is a cry for drawing attention to something that has not received justice, is unjust, exploited, violated. Each is a cry from a group of artists. We hope it is a cry that will take us closer to an anthem that brings change, and inspires, and gives courage to artists to use their arts to bring about a better world," says Sarabhai.

The role of artists, in a system which constantly discourages art and intellect to flourish, Danish observes, has more or less remained the same: to be the emotional chroniclers of their time:

"Every era is marked by certain events which overshadow the other happenings. It is the job of the artist to lurk in the shadow side and highlight the dark side of the things," he says. "They bring to light the emotional and unseen parts of that era. So in that sense, even if the establishment seems to be going after every dissent, it doesn't mean the job of the artist changes."

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