on Pebet
Did anybody watch Pebet at Prithvi? Please please to tell how it was...
an excerpt from Rustum Bharucha...
"My challenge in documenting this text was not merely to prepare a written text out of a non-verbal performance text; the more critical task was to participate in the resurrection of the play from the ashes of its memories as it were. Here I found myself playing the role of a catalyst, as I encouraged Kanhailal and his wife Sabitri to reconstruct the play after an absence of almost 20 years, with a very different cast and a somewhat altered political situation. In Manipur, I found that the very site of documentation compelled me to assume an active role as a writer. The professional demands of the job required a negotiation of existing resources and conditions of work. Not only did I and my photographer colleague Amit Bararia have to get involved in finding an appropriate space for the documentation, we also had to record the productions late at night when it was possible to photograph the plays without voltage fluctuations by stealing electric current from the main line. While I wouldn't want to make this sound unduly subversive, it should be remembered that curfew descends on the streets of Imphal after dusk when the militia are omnipresent. Documenting an ostensibly innocent anti-state play in the thick of the night gave the entire activity a different immediacy and sense of involvement."
Link via indianwriting.
an excerpt from Rustum Bharucha...
"My challenge in documenting this text was not merely to prepare a written text out of a non-verbal performance text; the more critical task was to participate in the resurrection of the play from the ashes of its memories as it were. Here I found myself playing the role of a catalyst, as I encouraged Kanhailal and his wife Sabitri to reconstruct the play after an absence of almost 20 years, with a very different cast and a somewhat altered political situation. In Manipur, I found that the very site of documentation compelled me to assume an active role as a writer. The professional demands of the job required a negotiation of existing resources and conditions of work. Not only did I and my photographer colleague Amit Bararia have to get involved in finding an appropriate space for the documentation, we also had to record the productions late at night when it was possible to photograph the plays without voltage fluctuations by stealing electric current from the main line. While I wouldn't want to make this sound unduly subversive, it should be remembered that curfew descends on the streets of Imphal after dusk when the militia are omnipresent. Documenting an ostensibly innocent anti-state play in the thick of the night gave the entire activity a different immediacy and sense of involvement."
Link via indianwriting.
posted by Swar Thounaojam at 11:59 am
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