Chapter I: Kachahari: a Theatre for Oppressed I.1 Introduction A
Chapter I: Kachahari: a Theatre for Oppressed I.1 Introduction A Kachahari is a people’s court traditionally held in Nepali villages. When faced with a conflict or case of injustice, a villager would call for a Kachahari and presents his or her problems. Villagers would look for possible solutions together, involving both victimizer and victimized on hearing. Kachahari theatre attempts to create this kind of forum using drama: a performing art, where artists perform the victimized person/s issue amidst the audiences who first appear as the case hearing audiences and then become performer of the solutions from each angle. Kachahari theatre –a site of performance is an interactive form of theatre, where the audience actively participates in and shapes the happening on stage. Through this dynamism, people (artists and audiences) both analyze the problems faced by them and act out or “rehearse” to get possible solutions which they can use in their lives. The Kachahari theatre was started by Aarohan Theatre group in Nepal, nearly two decades ago, under the leadership of theatre master Sunil Pokharel. Aarohan Theatre group is one of the pioneering theatre groups who set the theatre as a political theatre movement rolling in Nepal in 1993. The other one is Sarvanam, which worked for the street theatre where artists perform for public awareness related issues.The theatre master and the head of Aarohan theatre group in Nepal, Sunil Pokharel, in his interview with Nepal Monitor’s reporter Haris Adhikari, asserts that he does not believe in art for art sake. Moreover, his direct involvement in street theatre from 1983 with the group called Sarvanam, and his subsequent journey to National School of Drama, New Delhi, India has empowered him with a unique capacity to interpret the history of his country and learn from the mistakes that happened in Indian scenario in its post independence era.
[Show full text]