The Freedom Jatha, the first ever Palestine-India theatre collaboration, has once again united two unique theatre companies: this time in Palestine. The project is a joint initiative between India’s preeminent left-wing theatre group, Jana Natya Manch (People’s Theatre Group; ‘Janam’ for short), and The Freedom Theatre. Speaking of their upcoming journey through the occupied West Bank, distinguished actor, director and member of Janam, Sudhanva Deshpande, said:
“Jana Natya Manch’s collaboration with The Freedom Theatre is an example of people-to-people, artist-to-artist, South-South collaboration, without the mediation of any funding or arts organisation from the North. After hosting our Palestinian friends in India for three months and touring 11 cities, we are very excited to be in Palestine for the final part of this collaboration. We will show our play on gender violence — in Hindi! — to Palestinian audiences, speak about our work, and interact with activists and artists to learn about, and be inspired by, the resistance to the brutal Israeli occupation. We bring with us the love and solidarity of the people of India!”
Eight members of Janam, including visionary artist Orijit Sen (designer of Freedom Jatha artwork), will join the Freedom Theatre in celebrating 10 years of cultural resistance. Janam’s performance of Yeh Bhi Hinsa Hai (The Faces of Violence) performed in communities throughout the West Bank will be a significant addition to the fifth annual Freedom Ride. Yeh Bhi Hinsa Hai portrays the myriad of ways in which patriarchy and gender violence operate across class statuses to oppress and violate the rights of women.
During the 2016 Freedom Ride, students of The Freedom Theatre’s Theatre School will also use skills they learned with Janam while in India to produce Platform, a working piece being built from stories shared by community members during the Freedom Ride throughout the occupied West Bank, Palestine.