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ference. From folk tales to Moliere é it’s all one seamless movement deriv- s ing from their experience of life. 3 There’s no halfway house between I the local root and the foreign style, f: □ Peter Brook, The Times 3

educated in India and went on to study at RADA, the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the British Drama League. In 1954 he founded Delhi’s first professional theatre company, The Hindustani Theatre, and five years later set up his own group, Naya Theatre. Journalist, actor, director and-playwright, Habib Tanvir was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Drama in 1969. He was made a special member of parliament in 1972, a post which he held until early 1978. He has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the Far East and the USA, observing and studying theatrycal traditions. His unique work with Naya Theatre has brought him an international reputation as 1 one of the most innovative and outstanding creative figures in world theatre. □

praznoverje i zahtevati od njih da n prekinu s tim glupostima. Propala bi n citava stvar. Tako moramo prihvatiti h polovična rešenja; dozvoliti im da n budu ono što jesu-i zadržati se na le- g poti svega toga. d d Kao rezultat toga, da li biste rekli da r je i komad poput Kradljivca Carana z narodni teatar? p Nišam siguran da bih to tako nazvao. z Mi smo prikazali národnú priču, sve- u sho postavljenu u savremene okvire. ŕ To je moderno. Pravi narodni teatar š imače stilsku čistotu koju ograni- v čavaju mnoge konvencije; naš rad s to ukida. Mada je, naravno, večina č elemenata u predstavama iz narod- I nog teatra. z c Znači, mislite da narodni teatar može biti otvoren za inovacije? Svakako. Mislim da takav teatar mo- s že biti najdelotvomiji prenosilac sa- Î vremenih ideja. Bilo da sam u pravu i ili ne, ja sam se posvetio stvaranju i modernog pozorišta preko narodne i umetnosti. 1 i Kako to ostvarujete? 1 Odtočili smo da ne diramo divne priče iz epova koje narodni teatar ima na švom repertoáru. Rekli smo da čemo ih suočiti sa novom pričom narodna priča koju prepričava čovek s društvenem svešču. Uzeli smo priču i isprobali je sa glumcima. Javio se otpor. Onda smo uzeli narodnog pe- I snika da napiše nove pesme. Opet je bito otpora. Da bi napisao pesme, on se vratio starim formama. Upitali smo jednog od najstarijih glumača: Kako se to izvodilo kad si ti bio mlad? Pre trideset godina? On je rekao; Ovako čemo da uradimo. Tako smo i postali autentičniji nego oni sami i uneli smo nov element svesti preko priče. Isto tako, pružali su otpor i kostimima. Hteli su šareni najlon i saten i ostale jevtine stvari. Odbijali su divne pamučne tkanine koje se izraduju u njihovim selima. Molili smo ih da se pridržavaju vremena od dva i po sata a ne da drže predstavu cele noči, iz poznatog razloga - u starom stilu, priča je gubiła bito kakav značaj za publiku. Ona je dolazila da čuje pesme i vidi igrače. Kad zatraže odredenu pesmu, glumač napusti priču i peva - i to je mogla da bude samo pesma iz nekog filma. Onda pokupi novae od njih - rupija odavde, rupija odande, i tako skupljaju novae sve do jutra. Ne stignu ni do pola priče, ali publika nije marila - ionako su je več videli i zasitili je se, pošto u njoj

nema ničega. Sve značenje koje je f f nekada bilo u njoj sada je nestalo, ¡t Na to mislim kada kažem da je ta for- ii ma teatra zapala u križu. Sada, dve T godine posle rada s njima, rekli su mi tl da ti glumci nose pamučne kostime i c da se pridržavaju vremenskog okvi- | ra. Jer, stvorili su novu publiku koja I zahteva najavljeni komad - zato-što | priča ima sadržinu. Ja uopšte nišam I za čistotu forme, ali sam za to da se I uhvate njen duh i njena suština. Naja teatar je več davao predstave širom Indije. Mislite li da je možda vreme da se taj rad prikaže i u ino- c stranstvu, na primer na nekom me- 1 dunarodnom pozorišnora festivalu? i Da, to bi bilo zanimljivo i drugima, : zato što je tako različito. Ja bih voleo I da se on prikaže, To bi seoskoj kulturi moglo da done- 1 se dosta prestiža? i Moglo bi. Siromaštvo i zapostavijo- I nost sela manje-više uništavaju pove- ’ renje naroda u sebe i čini da gradove i masovne medije posmatra s kom- i pleksom niže vrednosti. Pažnja koju izazove njihov teatar značila bi da se oni mogu vratiti svojim seoskim for- : mama s mnogo više samopouzdanja i oslanjanja na sebe. Po mom mišljenju to bi bio največi doprinos njihovog pojavljivanja u svetu. Iskreno rečeno, ako se to zbilja proširi i ako se nastavi pravi rad, biče veoma dobro za Indiju. □

‘ Peter Brook on Naya Theatre i They represent an absolute extreme - of purity; a peasant company directi ed by a highly sophisticated man who - brings them up to town and takes r every conceivable precaution to prei vent the town from contaminating a them. Тђеу go back to their villages , at harvest time. They speak their local , Hindi patois... It’s pop art, using the a vocabulary of natural fun and in that - sense the Naya shows could be from - anywhere. But there’s something i about this part of India that makes ;- them very talented. They’re born i- actors. What they produce together a is an enormous variety of stories that e they tell completely on their own ;, terms: not only village fables, but e bits of Brecht and “The Bourgeois )j Gentihomme” with no apparent dif-

Naya Theatre The undoubted theatrical highlight I of this year’s Festival of India will c be the long-awaited debut of the re- 1 markable Naya Theatre, only the £ second theatre company from India ' to ever visit Britain. ‘ Naya Theatre was founded in 1959 1 by director Habib Tanvir as an ad- ( hoc organisation comprising folk ar- I tists from the remote tribes and vil- I lages of Chhattisgarh, located in Tan- I vir’s home region of Madhya Pradesh. I The company became a registered I non-profit cultural organisation in ■ 1964, and a professional theatre in 1970, staging at least three new plays a year and touring India. -In addition to their performances, the company also organises lecture ■ demonstrations, seminars, training i courses and workshops, open to both i professionals and amateurs. With Peter Brook their joint companies are holding workshops as part of I Brook’s preparation for his production of the great Indian classic THE MAHABHARATA next year. In a visually exciting production which allows ample scope for the exuberant wit and energy of the village performers, CHARAN THE THIEF features improvised dialogue, music, songs and dance, combining traditional forms of Sanskrit theatre with ; folk theatre and contemporary tech- niques, Habib Tanvir’s adaptation of ) this comic folk-tale has been acclaims ed throughout India as one of the - outstanding contributions to new I Indian Theatre and was recently the s subject of a full-length feature film. 1 At this year’s Edinburgh Festival, ; prior to their visit to London, Naya t Theatre played to critical acclaim at i the Assembly Rooms. □

1 Habib Tanvir :s C- Born in 1923, Habib Tanvir was

Charan Das Chor A Folk-Tale Based Dramatic Improvisation I have constructed the dramatic facade of Charan Das Chor on the core of a folk tale about a thief who inadvertently makes a pledge to his Guru never to tell a lie and stands by his pledge, though he never stops thieving. The Sadhu had actually asked him to give up his bad habits if he wanted to become his disciple. As he was a thief, he was asked to make a pledge that he would never steal. The thief offers to take four other pledges instead. He would never eat off golden plates, never ride on an elephant at thehead of a procession, never marry a queen and never accept the throne of a country. To this the Guru retorted that as he had so generously undertaken to give up four things on his Own account, he might undertake to give up one little thing at his Guru’s behest. You are a big liar, said the Guru. Give up lying. The thief consented. And that’s how the deal was clinched. The story has contemporary social relevance and I have tried to exploit this aspect of the story to the full. I have written the play rather with my folk actors-improvisers all-than with a pen. The same technique is adopted in direction. Indeed it is this technique which I have been persistently trying over the years to prefect with the help of the illiterate rural artists, who form the professional hard core of Naya Theatre.