Performances don’t have to be in an auditorium — and this was proven by the performance at Cubbon Park by two artistes from the Society for Promoting the Arts, Culture and Education (SPACE), Goa in collaboration with MARAA.
The artistes, Andrea Pereira and Stephie Madurel, began with a theatrical delivery of a poem, ‘What Sort of World’ by Uma Narayan, which dealt with the different ways in which humans are destroying the earth. It also questioned what we will leave to our children, who are not even born.
“When we started talking to people of the older generation, there was too much cynicism towards change. But youngsters need to be on board, since we have no choice but to change. Too much damage is being done to the world and through these performances, we want to create a network of sharing such incidents — like a travelling newspaper,” shares Andrea.
At a different spot in the park, they performed ‘Paikdev Curses’, written by the artistic director of SPACE, Hartman de Souza. This looked at the damage being done to natural springs near their farm in Goa, with machines digging them out and mining waste being thrown into them. Expressive and emotional, it was obvious that this subject was close to their hearts.
Another interesting poem was on how the television has replaced the joy of reading among children. They moved around the audience, creating images of pirates wearing purple pants and dragons and gypsies with their words and bodies. Both children and adults were entertained and smiling when they said, ‘Go throw your TV sets away and install a bookshelf instead’.
The final and most intense piece, ‘Woman River’, was written by Ujwala Samarth at a time when the country was being ravaged by riots. A combination of dance and poetry, it captured the trauma of violence against women and questioned the continuous rape of Mother Earth. It was quite disturbing to watch, especially because of lines like ‘I am the dark conscience of the world’ and ‘I will give birth in terror and glory, for when a woman gives birth, who knows what it will be’.
“I found it very energetic and awe-inspiring. The pieces had the potential to evoke different responses from different people and the possibilities of various interpretations are what made it such a rich experience,” says Tasqeen, an attendee.
Evan, an audience member, adds, “I appreciate that they’re in touch with the pieces and how they used their body to captivate the audience, despite being in a space with so many distractions. ‘Woman River’ was very relevant and timely — it was a good use of
creativity as a form of protest.”