10.Theatre of Relevance- alliance & collaborations -Manjul Bhardwaj

Theatre of Relevance aligned with various groups, organizations, art critics & performers. Purpose of this artistic alliance was to nurture various ideas to enhance horizon of theatre. Exploring new performing spaces to experiment with content & form to break the existing status qua or stagnation in theatre.

In 1996 we collaborated with NCPA & performed our plays to popularize ‘Chauraha’ an interactive platform. In this series we performed ‘Mera Bachpan, Door se Kisi ne Awaz Di & Dwandwa etc.’ This was to  open a new performing space in Horniman circle garden. It was a successful experiment. This facilitated other auditorium administrators to provide space to innovative performers. Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan opened their Geeta Mandir & Prithvi Theatre started platform performance are few examples.

Our audience is our best collaborator. One such example is Mohini Mathur, she saw our performances in NCPA. She invited us to perform through her women association. We performed ‘Jeevan Sandhya’ on old age problems, disconnect between children & aging parents & old age homes. Industrialist S.P.Godrej saw this performance in Air India auditorium in Nariman Point. After the performance I started the discussion with the audience by appealing to introduce & share their opinion about play. He politely introduced himself & applauded the play & performance. I was moved by the simplicity of this great man. He was in simple paint shirt with a cloth bag in his hand. No hiccups or arrogance of being an industrialist. S.P.Godrej reinforced my values in simplicity.  I salute him!

Similarly we performed Mera Bachpan in Y.B. Chavan auditorium where late Justice Dharmadhikari saw the performance. Mohini Mathur always gave us different topics but the most challenging for me was writing a play on womanhood. It was so difficult for me that I almost gave up the idea (Which is a rare feature of me). But she kept on asking me to write. In the end she said I have announced the play & it will be performed in Mumbai University Fort Campus convocation hall on 11 April, 1998. I struggled a lot in conceptualizing the play. Restlessness enhanced day by day as the performance day was approaching. A week before, I woke up in the night with closed eyes I pulled on loose pages & pen with street light reflection I wrote the play “Main Aurat Hoon” & pushed the papers back under my bed. Next morning I gave the script to Babli Rawat to perform. She is so passionate about this play that since 11 April, 1998 to till date she is performing this play.  Since 22 years over thousands of performances all over India, she is performing this play with the same passion & nurtured generation of performers. “Main Aurat Hoon” has evolved one of my iconic plays performed by many groups & performers. This play is being translated in English, Punjabi, Marathi & Telugu!

 In 1998 art critic Rakesh Shreemal came up with an idea of “Theatre in home”. Idea was to reach out to audience. Some Hindi theatre director opposed this idea. But we supported. I specially wrote, performed & directed a new play ‘Napunsak’ to perform in a two day ‘Nat-Aalap’ festival to kick off the idea of “Theatre in home”. On 9th March, 1998 play ‘Napunsak’‘s premier was the inaugural performance of ‘Nat-Aalap’ festival. This festival triggered lot of debate and germinated many ideas which are still carried forward by many theatre performers.

In 1999 we initiated a new module of workshop that was “A career in Theatre”. The objective of this module was to break this myth that you can’t survive in & through theatre. We continued this module for years. Theatre enthusiast from all over India participated in these workshops. We were able to instill the concept that you can survive in & through theatre. I facilitated these modules. But I invited various theatre directors, art critics, playwrights & performers to orient participants with different experience & overview of Indian theatre. I owe my gratitude to all theatre directors, art critics, playwrights & performers who supported this module. And salute all participants of these module who inspite of all challenges holding themselves in Theatre.

Collaboration with Bhartiya Mahila Federation (Thane Samiti) started in 1999 & still going on. We are conducting workshops on play writing, acting & direction regularly. Bhartiya Mahila Federation (BMF) works for gender parity, violence free & just society. BMF upholds constitutional values & integrity, deals day to day with difficult cases of violence on women, child & elderly people. Each case is a challenge in itself. I really admire the conviction & courage of Geeta Mahajan & whole team & well-wishers of BMF. Those who want to run a people’s movement must visit BMF special how survivors of violence become crusader of Change.  I & Theatre of Relevance team directed number of plays for BMF. Such collaborations were undertaken in Nasik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur and various parts of Maharashtra & India. 

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..To be continued…