It started with an email. The International League of Theatre Women had short-listed me for the Gilder Coigny Award for theatre women using theatre for societal change. Then another saying I was a finalist. I didn’t win. Something much better happened. A new alliance of ‘committed to change’ theatre women from across the world was born. A comradeship came into being, through a series of exciting webinars. A wish to do something to highlight – through performance – the many unspoken horrors in the world.
The last horrific bombing of Gaza spurred us to action. And Theatre From the Streets was born, a pilot series of webinars launching new performance work on issues in various countries. Three countries were chosen, Palestine, Venezuela, and India. A curator in each, to produce the work, choose the moderators, select the artists. I took on the mantle for India.
The circumstances in each country are very different. From Palestine, even getting an internet connection is a hassle. We decided that if necessary the three five-minute works that would be produced and shown in each 90-minute session would be recorded to avoid internet issues. Each session was to showcase the new work and then hold a discussion and Q and A with the artists. A moderator would help put the issues in perspective for the international, invited audience. The entire series would be hosted by New Perspectives Theatre Company based in New York, and later be put on YouTube.
Theatre From The Streets was launched on August 1, 2021. Four Sunday sessions were filled with many glimpses into the horrors of the oppression, the might of Israel, and constant fear. The four sessions from Venezuela followed with work highlighting daily traumas – the lack of oxygen during Covid, the corruption at every corner and for every service, the interminable queues, the traffic hazards.
From the beginning, I had wanted to do something more. While we live in a country where free speech is curtailed every day, and where anything you say or do not say can invite the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or charges of sedition or an income tax raid, I wanted work to be artistic and bold. I was looking for artists who had the courage to speak up and do so with artistry. I wanted artists who felt passionately about a cause and wanted to scream. And I wanted the idea of theatre to be expanded to what it is, classically in India – all-encompassing, including all forms of performance and art.
I approached about fifty artists across the country, inviting them to be part of this international effort to use the arts to highlight issues, to give voice to issues or people who were unheard or throttled. It was difficult getting even the twelve I needed, whose artistry and courage I could depend upon. But in the end, the lineup is exciting, the issues varied and the styles invigorating. The issues range from many aspects of the ‘woman’ problem to the imprisonment of civil society voices and journalists, to the assault on tribal lands to climate change and more, the pandemic, the struggle of the labourers returning home during the lockdown, and the inhuman treatment meted to them amongst others.
In this series, we will present the work of Quasar Thakore Padamsee; Pinty Padmavati Rao; V. Balakrishnan; Pratishtha Pandya, Laboni, and Yadavan Chandran; Anju Uppal and Prabir Bose; Bharati Kapadia and Abeer Khan; Sohini Ray; Sanjukta Wagh; Shakthi Ramani; Tritha Sinha and Danish Husain.
I have also created a piece with Yadavan Chandran, with which we are kicking off this series in The Wire. The four moderators are Madhavi Menon, Githa Hariharan, Sumangala Damodaran and Sudhavna Deshpande.
Each individual work is a cry for drawing attention to something that has not received justice, is unjust, exploited, violated. Each is a cry from a group of artists. We hope it is a cry that will take us closer to an anthem that brings change, and inspires, and gives courage to artists to use their arts to bring about a better world.
Mallika Sarabhai lives in Ahmedabad and is one of India’s leading choreographers and dancers, performing both classical and contemporary works. She has been the co-director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts for nearly 30 years.