A tragedy of errors
A literary journalist asked me recently to say without reservation how the Nepali situation today would look from the point of view of theatre. I was baffled by the question. Normally, we have a practice to keep politics and theatre separate albeit ostensibly. But theatre and politics are linked very closely by methodology and modes of projection. The story is old. But the above question made me pensive. I took my time answering it.
I found that politics in Nepal today would give theatre people three pictures. First, it looks comic; second, it looks absurd; third, it looks tragic. These three theatrical strands capture the character and genius of the transformed times in Nepal. To answer his question “unreservedly”, I took a theatrical, not a political, position. I spoke to him on this topic for a couple of minutes. Afterwards, I rummaged through texts about this theme. But the answer came only through a direct and honest assessment of the scenario of today, which is political in nature.
To have a politically dominated culture could be an indicator of progress and forward-looking times. But when politics gets entangled in aporia, we find that theatre should act there. When politics gets closer to theatre, it opens itself up to dictators who resort to persecution of theatre artists and jailing and torturing them. At a Dublin conference on theatre censorship in November 2009, I was surprised when British scholars presented the story of strict censorship of theatre in Britain.
But the pattern of theatre censorship and government control in the erstwhile system in Eastern Europe looked very different. I was surprised by the continuity of state interest in theatre and theatre artists’ perpetual search for expression of freedom through performance as reported by scholars. State-funded theatres and their activities thrive under the controlled mechanism of the state, but they do not have vitality. Constant encroachment into theatre activities by the state has created and still creates tension between free expression and state perception.
In Nepal, we also have a tradition of theatre that faced censorship. The censorship was tacit and hegemonised. The Ranacracy that encouraged performances inside their palatial homes did not allow the same outside except on a limited scale. Two of the leading theatre people who did active theatre during the Rana times in the first half of the 20th century — Bekha Narayan Maharjan and Keshar Man Tuladhar — died a couple of years ago. I made recorded interviews with them about the relationship between the state and theatre groups. After 1950, the state did not take any interest in theatre. But king Mahendra, who established the Nepal Academy in 1957, did take a serious note of the theatrical medium and developed theatre inside the academy. Young theatre groups rejected that form, and staged protest plays in the streets.
Janam theatre in India was a rebellious street theatre. There is one important difference between state sponsored theatre and open theatre. Open theatre is political in nature. And it does not look at the historicity of theatre because it needs to create an immediate effect and action. They maintain a link with the audience. I have encountered such theatre groups in Simbabwe and India. A protest-savvy theatre group in Simbabwe was just emerging and acting with caution under the regime of Robert Mugabe when Madhab Lal Maharjan and I met them in Harare in August 2004. Their method is called hit-and-run theatre. They perform for immediate effect and do not have an interest in historical analyses. Resistance and rejection of domination are their themes.
Safdar Hasami’s Jananatyamancha in India and other rural theatre groups had and still have over 9,000 groups operating all over India. The street theatre of Safdar Hasami, who was shot dead during a performance in Delhi in 1989, and theatres like hit-and-run have some similarities with Augusto Boal’s theatre. In Nepal, street groups of young theatre creators did perform plays of resistance during the 1980s. But the efforts of all these theatre groups including hit-and-run theatre transform their political plays into aesthetically acceptable theatre. Theatres, therefore, have two faces. One face is that of the performers who stage plays. And the other face is that of the controlling order, a state represented by the government, especially the dictatorial ones who are very sensitive to theatre more than any other form of art.
To return to the journalist’s question, we as theatre people have not faced heavy censorship in the last several years. But Nepali politics may look like burlesque to us if we analyse the everyday language used by politicians. On many occasions, they are strange expressions. Repetition of phrases, words and themes makes their speeches funny and, in some cases, ludicrous. Their choice of language and themes is comic in several cases.
The other picture of Nepal’s current political scenario is that of a theatre of the absurd. Characters in the theatre of the absurd as in the plays of Samuel Beckett hold dialogues that do not lead anywhere. It is sometimes the drama of the merry-go-round of futility. Characters who are trapped in their localised agonies speak an absurd language. In another sense, such dialogues are funny. But to us, the picture of Nepali politics emerges as equally absurd if you read the news reports and listen to the speeches. Talking cross-purpose creates absurdity. I guess such cross-purpose dialogues dominate the scene these days.
The third is one of tragedy. Tragedy occurs when a character pursues the wrong ends. Even knowing well that things are bound to end in doom, the actor still does not stop to think. That leads to tragic consequences. There is one other factor. At the very end, you become wise and know what is wrong. But then, there will be no life thereafter. One such strand of Nepali politics looks tragic to us. All good politicians know the end will be tragic if they fail to reach the goal. But they still have the wrong pursuits. But tragic ends have a sublime effect in theatre. I don’t know if the same is true in politics.
Posted on: 2012-02-05 10:03
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