INITIATOR   BACK

There are few common words in theatre like actor, director, backstage people and audience. And at the extreme of it theatre activist. Beside that nothing is new. There is no other word because there was not any need felt for it. But it is necessary to understand why there was not any need. Theatre community in India is much smaller than any other media community. This is just because of their conscious effort to limit themselves to those very few words and make niche of them in that area only. And when I use the word 'initiator', it clearly means to initiate new things. I want to initiate new things in theatre and for that I will have to expand the horizon of theatre. I will have to take it beyond the point where it has reached now. We can take it beyond the point where making of actor, director or other related words stops.

So my role as an initiator is to do things that will eventually take theatre to more and more people, and make part of their lives, which is the basic of theatre. And in doing so, what comes first is the role of an analyst. It is necessary to understand what actually is happening in the society, what are the different trends and how we can be part of it. I would like to point out that it is only after we approach people that it becomes part of their lives. So to approach people is the role of initiator. And we can approach them by calling them to proscenium theatre or by performing different plays at their venues, bastis, areas, nukkad, community. Again performing those plays that are based on their related issues. For this I took initiative to ask and analyze their problems, related it to theatre then to roots of theatre and finally to communication…since theatre is a very powerful medium of communication. And all these things are done to safeguard the humanity because I believe that theatre is a medium of change. So I took initiative to first go and perform at the variable venues, which exist. That means took a step in taking what is happening in proscenium theatre or street theatre to their venues, to their places, to their issues and by themselves. First thing is reaching them and second thing is providing them a platform. Instead of taking professional theatre persons that was better to interact with them and allow them to perform and let them experience the strength of theatre.


For example, I took theatre of development to the problem of ' child labour'. I took child labourers, rehearsed with them and performed with them and the chain started. Right now, near about 400 children have left working and they are in school. The same phenomenon was carried out with the parents, with the community people, with the employers, with schoolteachers and the school system itself in the Charkop area. And now we are involving 10-20,000 people in direct or indirect access to theatre. They now believe that theatre has value and it is not only for entertainment but it it’s a medium of change. This is the role and challenges of an initiator to reach them, to provide them and verify that theatre is a medium of change.

There were lots of difficulties faced mainly from the contemporary current trend of the theatre community. Theatre communities are identifying themselves only with the performance. 80 % of the community is involved with the proscenium kind of theatre and and only 20 % are those amateurs who are projecting themselves as street theatre or folk theatre persons or something like that. When I started as an initiator I found a gap between the theatre environment and the audiences. Firstly, no theatre is complete unless it covers different subjects and issues of the society. Theatre does not only mean to perform on street or stage but include discussion on theatre, analysis of theatre, documentation of theatrical processes, and finally involving the audience and living with the system. Secondly, it is necessary to strike a balance between them. And to strike a balance between the segments of society and theatre, thorough understanding of the expectations and needs of the society and theatre is must.

So although we were performing under proscenium theatre or / and street theatre as a performer there was a role beyond this. I took up child labour issue and related it to theatre. And this has proved that beyond a performer we have initiated a dialogue. We have initiated to share with them, live with them. Theatre has brought so much change within them that it has eased their life in terms of understanding the whole perspective and the context. I gave them a platform where they could express themselves. And once they become expressive, vision automatically comes to them.

What I have decided from the whole process that when an adult is blocked or is not being accepted, it becomes difficult for him to survive and say something. And to my mind expression is fundamental thing. And in theatre expression is the first and foremost thing. So one can easily see the co-relation between human being and theatre.

Another interesting point, which was put up by social communities, social workers and the theatre communities that theatre cannot bring change. Eminent theatre personalities are obsessed with this notion, which could be verified from their interviews that comes in media. As an initiator I had dialogues with them and asked them to reflect on their achievements. Since they put their first step in theatre to the present day; where do they stand now? Where do they find them when they look back at their 20-30 years of long theatre journey. What are the changes that have come to them? Do they have not become a dynamic person? So when theatre can make them a dynamic person why cannot it do to the society?

All these things have proved my role as an initiator but to carry on these things further there again lays a role of initiator. We have initiated and developed a concept--a career in theatre--. Normally, there is a myth governing the youngster that you cannot pursue a career in theatre. But the reality is opposite to it. There is a community in theatre that is surviving in theatre. The size might vary from thousand, hundred to ten, but there is example of theatre personalities who are surviving solely on theatre. We are taking initiative to demystify this by conducting a workshop that gives inbuilt-process-oriented experience to the youngsters where they themselves visualize their kind of theatre and we are just giving another platform to them where they can experience that there is career in theatre. When we say this they have to visualize the realities of day-to-day life and realities of theatre. What theatre demands from them in order to make it a survival means.

Another aspect of initiator is documentation of the complete process. We are making a collective effort by working with different fields of society--educationists, social workers, theatre communities, media people, journalists, common men. and asking them to come together and share their experiences, document their experiences to strengthen all these theatrical processes, which are serving the purpose of inception of theatre, bringing together all the communities. Union ministry of Labour and Education and other professional people have taken up this approach now. We are sharing all these concepts, with all the agencies who identifies with the fact that we are here to bring a change in the society. We have worked with child labourer. While they were performing they realized where they are, why they are and where should be.

We have also worked with women in distress. This segment of the society is suffering a lot. We have given them this platform and they have found the vision that they do have their rights: right of not to fight with male segment for their rights but understanding the men and making them understand themselves. We have conducted workshops with people in remand room, with people in distress, people in jail….in brief we have worked with both the exploited and the exploiter. We conducted a workshop of employees who employed children. They understood our point of view. This is the strength of theatre. What I mean to say that I have taken strength of theatre to the people who need them and for whom theatre is been build. Our theatrical approach & Process that can be achieved by taking the theatre to where it belonged; among the people, to the Society. We have to bridge the gap between the audience and the performer by taking it out from the enclosed hall to the street, squares and by taking the issues relevant and related to them. When human element is added to the work, creativity goes beyond time & space.

That is what I have understood as far as origin of theatre is concerned. I have also taken theatre to those who are governing now, the one who have power. Their experiences too shows that it has given insight to them as to why they are leading towards minority or majority kind of things and why not doing something collectively. This is the beauty of theatre, it's essence lies in teamwork. Theatre is true to the process, true to the emotions of human being. Yet there is another field where we have taken initiative--the corporate sector. The corporate sector uses Behavioral Science in training their employees. And Behavioral Science has theatre at the core of it.

Now a day in our society, people are focusing on content rather than process. And it's scientifically proved that if you go through the process you can understand 97% of the thing compared to just 3% through content. And theatre is process. This is what we are sharing with the people.

Now if you analyze the origin of theatre it itself signifies that there is revolt within the theatre. Theatre is not like stagnant water; it is flowing constantly with freshness. It is a kind of stream that flows of it’s own, decides its own parameter and, the very moment breaks it's own limitation and sets new standard for itself. Theatre is subversive.. it challenges its own existence. And that is why it is for people. I do not see myself as a social reformer. I am a true theatre activist. Since theatre started for the people, their unrest and injustice is part of theatre. I do not think that I go beyond the relevance of theatre and do social works. I am there as far as theatre exists with them. And when I am on the street, doing a theatre I am clearly protesting against something, which exists in the society, for example, dowry, alcoholism, illiteracy and whatever atrocities happening. When I am on the street I am against all those things that should not exist in the society. And the process is ever evolving to make a just society. And that is the process we have just initiated.:

I have always learned from my experiences and believe that every one can also do the same. It has nothing to do with putting my point right but to make people realize that they can also harvest the benefit. The only point is how to put thing consciously in front of them. For me those were the real life experiences while as an initiator I have to put things across consciously. I stimulate the real life situation to create an environment where they will learn from their own experiences

There are few things that people leave behind in their journey of life thinking it to be redundant, which infact is other way round. Urge to do things is one of those factors. Over a period of time, as life teaches the harsh realities of life, it become difficult to sit and realize what you have gained and what you have lost in life. Being an initiator I create an environment so that people realize the importance of 'urge'. As long as that energy is within you, you do not lose hope, creativity and zeal to live life to it's fullest. The potential and energy of urge could be reviewed when you see a young child. The energy he/she exhibits is enough to follow the life to it's fullest. A child always experiments with things and at the same time never loses zeal to continue doing the same. Exploration is their forte. And that is because of unblocked thinking. Since their thinking is not blocked they go on doing the same thing. 'Block thinking' is a way of looking at things in particular way. A set pattern is developed where by you perceive the thing the way you have continued perceiving it. An urge to see things from different angles stops. And I do just to rekindle that fire of urge to do different things, which most of us have left behind or rather forgotten. There is nothing bad about it but one should have the potential to break this block, see things in new perspective, have urge to try things without hesitating from failure (as children do) and learn from their self-experience. I remember one programme where I had been there as an initiator… making relevant use of the theatre I just said that they have to do a play and that too of their own. They had nothing to do with the theatre. They were confused but had no option. After initial hesitation somebody initiated from the group and they developed a fantastic play of 30 minutes. The play was conceived, written, directed and acted by them. The participants were beaming with confidence that they can do different things and need not depend on others for everything. The 'urge' of a child was infused in them, which continued even after the training session. This reminds me to say hasarat bahut thi zindagi tujhe jeene ki magar afsos ek aur bachpan na mila

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