Folk Theatre Improves Psychosocial Work in Kashmir

Renato Souza & Martin Sloot Folk theatre improves psychosocial work in Kashmir Renato Souza & Martin Sloot This article shows how a psychosocial project initi- are central to their performance. Some ated by a Western, medical humanitarian organisa- groups are well known for criticising the tion can connect with non-Western local traditions. government for abo corruption or the In this case, the traditional folk theatre of the rural destruction of the natural environment. areas in Kashmir is used as a medium for psycho- Other groups use their performance to raise education. awareness in the Valley about health-related topics such as vaccination campaigns or Keywords: folk theatre, psycho-education, family planning local tradition Objectives of the Activity Folk Theatre in Kashmir In 2000, Médecins Sans Frontieères (MSF) Folk theatre is an old tradition in the and Government Medical College (GMC) Kashmir Valley. It has always been a means begaun implementing a psychosocial proj- of communicating a message that is ect in Ganderbal block, a subdivision of throught the performance. Folk theatre Srinagar in the Kashmir Valley. groups are known as ‘Pather’ and the actors This pilot project (which ended in July that are part of a particular Pather are often 2003) was an innovative psychosocial pro- members of the same family, or live in the gramme; its main objective was to con- same locality. Members are exclusively tribute to the reduction of the psychosocial male, due to the prohibition of women per- problems of the population living in the formers in Kashmir. The performance nor- Kashmir Valley, caused by traumatic stress mally involves singing and dancing. Some induced by the chronic conflict in this actors play traditional musical instruments region. like the Kashmiri sitar, drums, flutes and One component of the programme was the santor. A clown is usually involved as well, re-introduction of traditional music and cul- and is mainly responsible for making jokes tural activities which had declined in the and interacting with the audience. The past 15 years. MSF, therefore, decided to actors dress in colourful costumes and it is use traditional folk theatre as a medium for normal for men to play the role of women psycho-education and approached the folk induring the performance. theatre group called ‘Band Pather’ in The various Pather specialise in themes that Wathura village (Budgam District). Several 57 Intervention 2003, Volume 1, Number 3, Page 57- 61 Folk theatre improves psychosocial work in Kashmir other groups also joined in our efforts. informed MSF that they are well aware of Our intentions were as follows: these types of problems and that they also 1.to explain to the audience the causes of suffer from them. psychosocial stress in individuals and The presentation begins with the Band their communities; Pather actors arriving in a central place in 2.to reintroduce traditional forms of the- each village and loudly playing their flutes atrical communication (according to and drums. All folk theatres begin their per- the Kashmiri people these traditions formance in this manner so the villagers had almost completely disappeared in immediately recognize that there will be a the last 14 years of conflict); Pather performing in their locality. 3.to offer the people an enjoyable atmos- While the villagers are gathering the Pather phere which has been missing in recent start playing traditional Kashimiri songs times. and often the audience join in. The first actor to be highlighted is the Design and implementation of clown. He is the person responsible for the Activity communication between the actors and the MSF fieldworkers had several meetings spectators. He explains to the audience the with the Band Pather actors. A script was purpose of the Pather, and also makes jokes written by the leader of the theatre group, to make the audience laugh and relax. based on the information provided by The play starts with a common situation that MSF. It focused on the causes of stress and happens in the village. Actors representing vil- tension in Kashmir, the symptoms, the way lage elders gather together and comment on people present their suffering, and the ways the behaviour of a specific villager. According of coping that may help to reduce the level to the elders, this man must be crazy because of stress. The MSF fieldworkers also asked he has been quarrelling with neighbours, hav- the actors to make it clear in their performing physical fights with his wife, and lately he ance that symptoms of stress are a natural is always dressed very badly and is unshaven. consequence of conflict in Kashmir. In this While the elders are discussing what they way the audience would receive the mes- consider the crazy behaviour of this person, sage that they are not abnormal, but that two men suddenly jump into the scene. Two the situation they face is abnormal. At the men, who appear to be the ‘mad’ man and a end of each performance an MSF expatri- neighbour, start fighting in the middle of the ate would inform the audience about the crowd. activities of our organisation. The 30- to 40- New actors enter the scene and separate the minute performance was usually attended persons fighting. The wife of the man also by about 300 men, women, and children in enters and explains how she has been suf- each location1. Fortunately, there were fering from her husband. never any security problems that affected The man is allowed to express what is hap- our work. pening to him. He explains the problems he has had at work, his feelings of insecurity Synopsis of the play for both himself and his family - that he has The whole play was developed by the Pather not been able to fulfil his commitment as actors. MSF only introduced them to the head of the family because he feels unwell concepts of stress and coping. The actors most of the time. 58 Renato Souza & Martin Sloot At this time, the teacher of the village enters Dealing with psychosocial con- the scene. In Kashmir, teachers are usually cepts considered to be very knowledgeable and This was the way some simple clinical con- are highly respected. The teacher listens to cepts were introduced into a dramatic per- the man’s problems. The man is now formance. Factors contributing to stress, allowed to express his worries and also to stress symptoms, presentation, and coping express the reasons why he believes he is mechanisms, were part of the dramatic behaving in a different way. presentation but were generally not labelled The teacher then makes a summary of the as clinical concepts. Only the word ‘stress’ problems the man is facing and he explains had to be mentioned because this concept is to the actors and to the audience that his very well known in the community and this behaviour is not mad but that it is a mani- also translates easily into the Kashmiri lan- festation of what is called stress. The guage. It is also important to note that the teacher gives some advice to the man. The clinical presentation of the man in the play, teacher suggests that the mad man should his behaviour, and the advice given by the not keep the problems to himself and that teacher, were all developed by the actors of he should share and discuss his problems the Pather. with the ones he trusts. The teacher also MSF has also been running complementa- suggests that he should spend some time ry psycho-education sessions in several vil- doing activities he enjoys like gardening lages in Ganderbal block. As the results of and playing with his children. These simple the evaluation of the Band Pather theatre activities would, for sure, reduce his stress. show, we believe that the addition of a visu- After this scene is over all the actors join in ally dynamic component to the psycho-edu- a circle and dance and sing traditional cational session greatly enhances the impact Kashimiri songs. of a standard psycho-educational session, When they stop singing, the actors that rep- where someone speaks and the others lis- resent the village elders come back to the ten. The traditional format of the theatre scene and the teacher is again talking with added more believability to MSF activities them as in a normal day in the village. and made a valuable contribution to They talk about trivial things and mention Kashmiri cultural maintenance. the problems of the man that was judged as crazy. While they are talking, the man Evaluation comes to the centre of the stage. He is now The objective of the evaluation of the Folk very well dressed, clean and shaved and he Theatre was to get the opinion of the vil- has come to thank the teacher because he lagers about this type of activity and to lis- now feels much better and he believes that ten to their advice for possible future pre- all his problems have been solved with the sentations. The villagers were very atten- help and advice provided by the teacher. tive during the performance of the Band With this happy ending, the flutes and the Pather and laughter was common after spe- drums are played again and the actors all cific parts of the performance. The immedi- sing and dance together. ate feedback from the villagers after the presentation was very good. They told us that the problems mentioned in the theatre are the real problems being faced by the 59 Intervention 2003, Volume 1, Number 3, Page 57- 61 Folk theatre improves psychosocial work in Kashmir Kashmiri people. One old woman said that working, and praying.

Load more