About the Group :
Introspective theatre was established in 2002 in Delhi. It is
not a conventional theatre group insofar as it does not look at
theatre as a performing art per se. Rooted in
psychotherapeutic tradition of psychodrama and other
forms of psychological theories/tehchniques, and the use of emotional
memory, affective association and instinctual basis of affects
and behavioural expressions employed in acting, the group
looks at theatre as a means of understanding the self and
society, especially in the light of changing socio-cultural moorings.
In its journey towards
such an understanding, the group seeks to explore and
rely on the human capacity to be both an observer and the observed
of his or her own experiences and surroundings, hence
the name, Introspective Theatre.
Production of plays
by the group shall be informed by such an approach and public
performance of the plays shall be a way of sharing the understanding,
which the group hopes will provide a space for the spectators
to introspect on their life experiences and their socio-cultural
and historical moorings.
Director
: Dr. A Bimol Akoijam
Dr. A. Bimol
Akoijam is a psychologist by training and a film and
theatre enthusiast. He has taught at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi
and the Department of Psychology, University of Delhi befor he
joined the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS,
Delhi), a premier research institute of the country, where he
works at present.
He also conducts
training programs on counselling and human reations.
The rich Manipuri
modern theatre, especially the experimental theatrical movement
of the 1970s and the early 1980s, inspires his outlook towards
theatre. In 2002 he started the Introspective Theatre to explore
the possibility of exploring human psychology and its socio-cultural
moorings through theatre on the one hand and also to employ it
as a medium of enquiry, communication, personal growth and socio-political
action on the other.
So far he has written
three plays (Char Ratein Ek Din; Kanagee Punshi Kanagee
Leela; Draupadi, Main Aur Vah Aaeena) and directed one
(Azadi Ki Khamoshiyan). He was involved as a subject expert in
a diploma production of the National School of Drama,
Marat Sade (Directed by Sanmugahraja, 2002). He is also
into films; presently he is working on two short films.
Productions
:
- Azadi Ki Khamoshiyan
- August 2002 at National School of Drama, New Delhi
A play that explores the silences of 1947, a year marked by
the celebration of freedom from the colonial rule and that
of the enormous violence that still haunts the sub-continent.
This was a play largely based on the works of Saadat Hassan
Manto and the research works on the partition of the Indian
sub-continent. It looks at the issue of violence and the collaboration
between the individual psyche and that of the collectivity.
- Draupadi, Main Aur
vah Aseena - Under Production
A play on sexual ploitics, especially how the women's body
and sexuality become the sites of the wars thst are engaged
in the name of morality, nation and justice. It explores and
comments on the "male gaze" and interrogates the
"body-for-other".
Contact
: E-mail groups@rangshala.com
for further information.
INTROSPECTIVE
THEATRE 