Bengali to English
translated by Yashodhara Mukharjee
Since 2004, Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed has organized a unique International Forum Theatre Festival. By International Theatre Festival, we generally understand foreign artists coming and staging their productions here. However, the Muktadhara Festival maintains its usual superiority by setting a completely different example. Previously, Muktadhara has seen performances by International theatre groups; but what is noteworthy is that the workshops participants created small scenes depicting the socio-political problems of foreign countries, and took them to stage in front of village audiences. This created the space for them to engage in dialogue about those issues with our village audiences here, made possible through Forum Theatre.
The Festival usually witnesses an audience of 80-90 foreigners from 25-26 countries. This year due to visa issues in the aftermath of Covid-19, only 27 audiences have reached us from 11-12 countries. In this Festival, this International audience has experienced the work of Jana Sanskriti in Badu (Madhyamgram), Kolkata, and across villages of Sundarbans. The programme of this Festival spanning 15 days of December included theatre workshop, theatre performances, various folk art forms like Chhau, Natua, Raibeshe, Dhaak, Orissa’s Gotipua dance, and dance-singing-recitation-yoga staged by local adolescent groups.
The Festival this year, Muktadhara IX, was inaugurated at the Augusto Boal Auditorium, Badu Madhyamgram. UNESCO World Chair Dr. Vinod Pavarala inaugurated the programme. Dr. Debanjan Chakrabarti, British Council Director for East and North East India was present as the chief guest. Dr. Vasuki Belavadi, Professor at Hyderabad Central University was present as the Special Guest. The cultural programme of the day was inaugurated with artist Anindita Dey’s singing, after the felicitation of the panellists was done by Jana Sanskriti. On this day, we observed the occasion of International Day for Persons with Disability through Theatre. Our play ‘Wasteland: A Journey’ had its premiere performance. Directed by Dr. Sanjoy Ganguly, and co-directed by Jenny Sealey, Tim Wheeler and Ayon Joardar, this play draws inspiration from English poet T.S Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land’, and was performed by a group of disabled and non-disabled artists. This was a Jana Sanskriti and British Council joined collaboration.
From the 4th to the 7th of December, the Festival witnessed a Forum Theatre workshop with the International participants, led by Dr. Sanjoy Ganguly, Sujoy Ganguly and Satya Ranjan Pal. In the evening, the group enjoyed theatre performances and cultural programmes. The staged performances include Assam Sutradhar’s ‘Nirvana – The Mukti’, and Jana Sanskriti’s seminal plays ‘Sonar Meye’ (Golden Girl) and ‘Amra Jekhane Dariye’ (Where We Stand).
On 8 December, Waste Land: A Journey had its second performance at ICCR, along with mesmerising Gotipua dance by a group from Orissa. This year we awarded the Augusto Boal Memorial Award 2022 to theatre personality Mr. Subhashish Gangopadhyay and Amulya Ganguly Smriti Samman 2022 to theatre researcher Mr. Angshuman Bhowmick. Apart from the awardees, the panel on stage included Dr. Debanjan Chakrabarti (Director, British Council East and North East India) and ICCR Zonal Director Mrs. Meenakshi Misra.
The touring phase of the Festival began from December 10, from Basar village in the Kulpi Block of South 24 Parganas. The evening included various cultural programmes, Yoga, Jana Sanskriti’s play on Trafficking ‘Bindiya’, Muskaan’s play ‘Anubhav’ (On Trangenders), and the Forum Theatre pieces created by the participants, and Purulia’s Chhau being performed on stage.
The second day of the touring phase i.e. December 11, we reached the village of Digambarpur where a vast village audience witnessed the third performance of the show ‘Waste Land: A Journey’ and a special mime performances produced by Machhalandapur Emon Mime Centre and directed by Dhiraj Hawaldar.
Next day i.e. December 12, the Festival reached Sundarbans’s Srinarayanpur village. The special attractions for the day was the women’s tug of war that the evening began with, and Bardhhaman’s Raibeshe. The audience also saw performances of Jana Sanskriti’s ‘Unnoyoner Kotha’ on the issues faced by our farmers, and the Forum Theatre pieces created by foreign participants.
The fourth day of the village touring phase, December 13, the Festival took place at Karanjali village of Kulpi Block. On this day, the 11 International participants joined over 3000 artists and locals in March for Freedom, spanning almost 5 Kms, and reached the festival location. ‘Sheh O Bikorno’ produced by Kalinagar Aikatan group, Purulia’s Natua, Bengals’ Dhaak, and forum theatre pieces by the foreign participants were performed on stage.
On the fifth and final day i.e. December 14, the group saw Legislative theatre performance of ‘Ga Hatche Shohore’ (The village is walking to the City) on the issues of migrant labour laws, at Ramganga in the afternoon. In the evening, the group walked to Dakshin Gobindopur village to watch the production ‘Tana-Bana’ by Sahayogi, from Patna. Elaborate Forum discussions followed the forum theatre performances by the International participants on this day.
A special attraction for both foreigners and 1000s of villagers residing in the district of South 12 Parganas, this Muktadhara Festival will be organized again in December 2024. Jana Sanskriti claims proudly that this Festival is organized without any government or non-governmental funding. It is organized using only the fees received from the international audiences.
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