Negotiating ‘theatre (in place/instead) of war’

Abstract

The small string of words ‘in place of’ is problematic because if it denotes ‘instead of’ then it is questionable whether conflicts and wars can ever be abrogated so long as there are relations of power. However, but if the string denotes a location, i.e. a war zone, then it is not inconsequential that we justify our eagerness for knowledge on performances of war zones when the war machines of the North are in business in the South in this monopolised–globalised world. This essay negotiates the problematic string by examining the notions of ‘theatre in place of war’ and ‘social drama’. It tests the validity of ‘social drama’ by examining the rituals of Devol Madua in Sri Lanka and Pangtoed ‘Cham in Sikkim and scrutinises the utility of ‘theatre in place of war’ against the notion of nationalism as a political construct by examining four plays from contemporary Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 1971. It concludes by arguing that it is necessary for theatre practitioners who devise performances as mechanisms of healing or as a tool for resistance to see that they are not subjects as agents of peace (and its substitutes) but complex and variable functions of numerous discourses, located in specific historical contexts, constituted within relations of power, many tentacles of which are invisible, and that they are engaged in micropolitics.