Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 26: Indian Council for Cultural Relations, (ICCR), Ministry of External Affairs Government of India, in association with Department of English and School of Languages, Central University of Jammu, organized a symposia ‘Theatre of the oppressed’, featuring key speaker Fabien Hartwell of London, here today.
Welcoming the distinguished guests, who included Anish Gawande of Columbia University, New York and Balwant Thakur, Regional Director ICCR J&K, Dr. Deepshikha Kotwal Head of the Department of English and Dean School of Languages Central University of Jammu, dwelt in detail of the objectives of the symposia.
Fabien Hartwell spoke at length about the theatre of the oppressed and informed that he was also inspired by the work of Safdar Hashmi and the nukkad natak tradition that involves the participation of the audience, not merely as spectators but as Spect-Actors.
While describing theatre of the oppressed, he prompted the participants to join the improvisations based of this unique concept of theatre.
Following the demonstrations on Boal and the aims of Theatre of the Oppressed, he raised a debate around an issue so that participants become aware of the different elements of the issue and go away still thinking about it, rather than having a cathartic theatrical experience, which they walk away from and forget about in five minutes.
This rare session later continued for over three hours and was also addressed by Balwant Thakur who spoke about the theatre of the region and it’s unique strengths which was largely inspired by the local artistic expressions.
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