A meeting of People’s Theatre groups in Asia

From May 20th to June 6th, 2003 MS brought together three People’s Theatre groups from India, Nepal and the Philippines to explore how theatre can transform conflicts into new beginnings.

by Anders Thormann

16. May 2003

For the past several years MS Nepal has been exploring and experimenting with creative approaches to conflict transformation. The focus has been not just on the conflicts, but also on the forms of social injustice that cause the conflicts. Our goal has been both to expose conflicts present in Nepali society and create a forum for discussing and acting out possible solutions. This perspective has lead us to work with Theatre of the Oppressed (1) techniques. Our grassroots partners have adopted and adapted the originally Brazilian theatre methods, giving them the Nepali name of Kachahari Theatre.

MS-Nepal has supported People’s Theatre groups in Nepal to develop these methods. We have worked with professional theatre workers from Kathmandu and grassroots groups from marginalized communities in various parts of the country.

The idea behind the regional workshop is to allow the Nepali groups to learn from the experience of People’s Theatre groups from other places in Asia and vice versa. The groups joining the workshop are:

• The Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA). PETA has struggled for over 30 years to develop a theatre that reflects the people of the Philippines, their concerns, their history and the people themselves.

• The Alternative Living Theatre (ALT) from Calcutta, which works with physical theatre, using the rituals and movements inspired by local culture.

• The Aarohan Theatre Group from Nepal. One of the oldest and most dynamic cultural groups in the country, Aarohan has performed stage and street theatre in Nepal for over 20 years. Aarohan pioneered Kachahari theatre in Nepal and has recently started Nepal’s first school of theatre.

• And 6 grassroots People’s Theatre groups from Nepal.

The workshop asks the question, what role can People’s Theatre play in transforming conflicts into social change? For the past months, the groups have been experimenting with conflict theatre in their own communities. In the two week workshop, they will share experiences and methods, as well as provide training for the grassroots theatre groups.

 

Exposing conflicts and acting out solutions

 

Kachahari theatre is based on Brazilian dramatist Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. In the 1970s, Boal developed a form of participatory theatre that transformed spectators into “spect-actors”, not just passive audiences but protagonists who are actively involved in shaping the work on the stage. The idea was that the audiences themselves could seek solutions to the problems and oppression that confronted them. Boal created a space for them to act out these solutions on stage, creating a theatre which was “a rehearsal for life.” Today the methods are practiced with marginalized and oppressed groups in many places in the world as a tool for self-empowerment.

In Nepal, MS and the Aarohan theatre group have adapted the methods to work with social conflicts. We call them Kachahari theatre. A Kachahari in Nepali is a form of village court, where communities gather to settle local disputes among themselves. In Kachahari theatre, the same idea applies; only the medium of communication is theatre and the conflicts are often structural and social. The theatre group identifies local conflicts together with the community. Issues differ widely. They could be anything from domestic violence or the treatment of dalit children in schools. The theatre group creates a performance that exposes the conflict. The villagers gathered in the audience suggest what the wronged party could do to find a solution to their problem. Every suggestion and the possible consequences are acted out.

The basic principles of Kachahari Theatre remain true to the Theatre of the Oppressed: theatre is emphasized not as a spectacle but rather as a language designed to: 1) analyze and discuss problems of oppression and power; and 2) explore group solutions to these problems. The language is accessible to all.