The possibility of developing theatre into a medium that the Human Rights Defenders could use to protest and raise awareness was suggested by Oishik Sarkar at our first post workshop meeting. October was narrowed down on as a feasible time to hold the one week workshop that was to be conducted by noted theatre-person and activist Parnab Mukherjee.
On 7 September we finally started the workshop at the Seagull Bookstore. Parnab explained the concept of Third Theatre to us—intimate theatre characterized by molding the space around the play and not vice-versa, as so often is the case. 11 September was confirmed as the date of our final production. The already value-laden date was not a co-incidence but purposely chosen as we wanted to bring to light some lesser known but equally important India- centric events connected with 11 September—for example, not many Indians know that on 11 September 1948, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act was enforced in Manipur. Also, since it happened to be W.H. Auden’s centenary year, we decided to incorporate one of his lesser known but extremely pertinent poems called ‘1st September, 1939’. The day was concluded with an extremely disturbing video called ‘Manipur Burning’ and with a discussion of extracts from Tariq Ali’s ‘The Clash of Fundamentalisms’ as well as Agha Ali Khan’s poems.
Saturday, 8 September was supposed to be poster designing day but it soon turned into a tug- of-war between a couple of reluctant software’s and some graphically challenged Defenders! In the end victory was ours and we managed a decent enough poster!
Sunday was spent in picking up the rest of the sequences. We were asked to come up with 2- minute narrations on a general theme of violence that was as personal as they were hard hitting. We were then asked to recite our lines from Auden. Thus encouraged, we departed for the night!
11 September, 2007 was D day! We met in the morning and had one run through. Utter pandemonium broke out as we attempted to come up with last minute transitions between sequences. We soothed our frayed nerves by threatening mutiny(mock)! Time, the most relentless of all demons was suddenly breathing down our neck.
Then, as soon as it was six o’ clock, we trooped downstairs in a single file. A sizeable crowd had gathered and as they watched a video of Bant Singh, we applied our grease paint. After the video was over we launched into our sequences while Parnab managed to weave everything into his narration. The play went off without hitches for the most part and we ended by playing the ‘Manipur Burning’ video. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The second show ran smoothly and suddenly, just as abruptly as it had started, the workshop was over.
The Defenders learnt a lot from the whole exercise. Apart from getting a taste of Third Theatre, we were also exposed to Parnab’s fiery style of activism. We also learnt the value of being organized. We learnt that a motley group of enthusiastic individuals with conflicting time schedules could come up with something as constructive as a play even in two days. Of course, other ingredients include endless cups of chai, lots of food, extremely patient organizers like Seagull and obviously, Parnab Mukherjee!
— A report by Anindya Banerjee