When Brazilian theatre activist Augusto Boal created this new interactive theatrical mechanism and called it “Theatre of the Oppressed” who would have imagined that one day it would be brought to Dharamsala by two Indian Tibet supporters for the use of young exiled Tibetans?
Friends of Tibet organises a five-day theatre workshop in Dharamsala from November 19 to 24 for a mix of 20 Tibetan and Indian youngsters living in Dharamsala. “We don’t have to shout our lungs out all the time, we can act and demonstrate our pain and give voice to our frustration through drama. Theatre is also a process of self introspection for the self and to the society and it becomes a collective ex-pression at the time of public performances”, says organiser Tenzin Tsundue, who is himself a theatre freak. “Some times we can just come out into the streets and laugh at giant China’s paranoia and fear of one Buddhist monk” he added.
For the purpose of training, Friends of Tibet has roped in two of the most experienced and active India theatre activists Jaya Aiyer and Ishtiaq who are especially experienced in the Theatre of the Oppressed. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed is studied and used in many places in India for both social and political causes like communalism, environment protection and AIDS awareness.
Founding director of the Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed, University of Nebraska Prof Doug Paterson says “Boal’s explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue.”
In the five-day theatre workshop the participants will learn voice modulation, body language, sense of space and whole gamut of theatre languages and mechanics. There is also an active yoga training every morning.
A group of Indian and Tibetan youngsters will undergo the theatre training camped at an Indian village called Garoh seven Kilometres down the valley from Dharamsala. The Indians and Tibetan youth will later give a performance at the end of the workshop in Dharamsala.
This event by Friends of Tibet is supported by Foundation for Universal Responsibility, New Delhi.
To know more, visit:: www.friendsoftibet.org
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Sethu das
Presdient
Friends of Tibet, India
