‘Manipuri, Marathi theatre need to share notes’

Eminent theatre director and playwright, Ratan Thiyam, is well known for writing and staging plays which use ancient Indian traditions and forms in a contemporary context. Winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award and founder director of Chorus Repertory, a theatre group that has earned international acclaim with its path-breaking plays, Thiyam tells DNA the importance of theatre as a platform to protest against wrongs prevailing in the system and staging plays against violence and war.

You choose to protest against the system through your plays. What makes you rely on this medium time and again?
The characteristic of theatre is such that it looks at the system and tries to protest against it whenever it has gone wrong. I think it’s a very powerful characteristic. Whether it’s socio-economic conditions, religious issues or contemporary problems, it’s all a part of theatre.

You have said that the violence in the modern world disturbs the artiste in you. Could you elaborate?
Art deals with peace and aesthetics. It deals with a very quiet journey. The artiste is never attracted towards violence or materialistic aspects. So I get disturbed whenever I come across violence and it reflects in most of my plays. I have done plays against war such as Chakravyuh. My question is, if we go on playing the game of violence then what are we leaving for our younger generation? A dark age or beautiful garden of truth and peace? We have to make a choice.

You always say your every premier is the last production and a new play is a rebirth. Why?
Yes, after the premier I don’t like to see what I have done. After that I am a dead person. I die after every production and am born again with a new play. Theatre is one of the most dynamic mediums and it is very different from dance and music. For instance, you learn classical dance for 20 years and can perform those dance items for years; but in theatre if your next production resembles your earlier production, it doesn’t work.

What is your take on Marathi theatre? Shouldn’t there be some cultural exchange between Manipuri and Marathi theatre?
Many young directors and playwrights are doing good work in Marathi theatre. The roots of Marathi theatre are very strong and it has produced many well-known actors and directors, who have contributed to Indian theatre in a big way. However, we do need new exchange programmes where they could share experiences. The Zonal Cultural Centres should do something about it.

Tell us about your recent theatre production.
I am doing Rabindranath Tagore’s play, The King of Dark Chamber. It is about the inner search for truth. It weighs the internal realities with external realities, where one is attracted towards external qualities of people such as looks or beauty. Tagore speaks about internal quality and there is a conflict between the two. It is a very powerful play. The same thing is prevalent in our society in present times. That’s why it becomes more contemporary.