‘Tibetan struggle is about the Tibetan language’: 'Pah-lak' playwright Abhishek Majumdar

'Pah-lak' playwright Abhishek Majumdar.

Four years ago, Pah-la (Tibetan for father), an English play written by Abhishek Majumdar premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London. The play has since then been translated into Tibetan language by co-director and head of Tibet Theatre Lhakpa Tsering. Along with German theatre director Harry Fuhrmann, the trio has taken Pah-lak to various places, including Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), where it had its premiere last year. Majumdar, who developed the play through rigorous research in Tibet and in collaboration with the Tibetan community in exile, speaks about the challenges of making the play and its focus on non-violence.

The 'Pah-lak' play.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

Is Pah-lak inspired by real life events?

It is based on a whole bunch of real events. We have condensed the timeline because it is a play. The events are very much in line with what has happened in Tibet recently and in the past.

Can you tell us about the genesis of the play and the questions it is trying to answer?

From 2007 to 2012, I had been working on a trilogy of plays set in Kashmir and before that, a play which dealt with the women of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE). For this purpose, I was talking to various people who had been part of these movements. When I finished the Kashmir trilogy, I was very intrigued by the role of violence in freedom struggles. What seemed very obvious is that even in our popular imagination we only actually remember recent struggles which have been violent. It is almost as if to make it to the news you need a spectacle of violence. So, 9/11 gets infinitely more coverage than the Narmada Bachao Andolan. I started thinking where has non-violence gone because that used to be a very pertinent and prominent method of freedom struggles during the mid-1900s to 1970s. What has happened that we have dismissed non-violence as a civilisation? This, to me, seems very dangerous. Am I going to leave a world for my child where there is no room for non-violence? That was the question for me really - what is the future of the non-violent movement? The Tibetans’ struggle is the star example of that because Tibetans are the only people who are known for their non-violence. I started researching the Tibetan struggle, particularly in relation to non-violence.

The play was written in English by you and this production is in the Tibetan language. How important was it to stage it in the language of the people?

The Tibetan struggle is about the Tibetan language. One of the big things about the protest is and one of the reasons why so many Tibetans left and came to India is because the Chinese government has made Mandarin the medium of education. It’s a very powerful way of controlling the people by making them lose their language because there are certain things you can longer think about because you can only think in the language of the master. The Tibetan language dates back to thousands of years but it is still in use. Many important Buddhist philosophical works exist only in Tibetan language. Many scriptures have been destroyed by the Chinese government. It is not only a loss to Tibet but a loss to the world.

The amazing thing I realised when I was watching the rehearsal for the Tibetan play was that they don’t use a single word of English when they are speaking. They have a Tibetan word for everything. Lhakpa Tsering, who is the co-director, has done the translation and the credit goes to him and the others who read his draft and gave their feedback. It becomes a very powerful thing for this language to exist on stage for two hours and for people to be able to hear that language.

You are an Indian whereas the directors Lhakpa and Harry Fuhrmann are Tibetan and German, respectively. How was the experience of coming together and making this play?  

Lhakpa has been there for this play right from the beginning. He was one of the first people I met when I went to Dharamshala and the play was just a vague thing in my head. Lhakpa has been the real force behind the play which has seen some really bad days and some enormous amount of censorship. There was a debate in the Tibetan parliament about this play whether it should be supported or not! Without him it would have been impossible to even write it. He has risked a lot to write it. At present, it is getting great reviews from the Tibetan community because it is asking the questions young Tibetans are asking today but when it opened, there was a lot of scepticism about whether we are diluting the Tibetan struggle by asking ourselves questions. Lhakpa is one of the bravest people I know. His moral fibre is so strong that he stays with his word. Working with him has not only been easy, it has taught me a lot.

As for Harry, he is a big supporter of the Tibetan cause and he came to TIPA to work with the actors even before I started working on this play. He is insanely committed as a person. This production would not have happened without him. He insisted on doing this play when he saw the one we did in London. The interesting thing is we have not only met each other as theatre makers but have met each other as an Indian and a Tibetan and a German and it works because we don’t try and make it one thing. The commonality we have is our relationship to the Tibetan struggle and our love for theatre and that is enough.

What has the response been, especially from Tibetans in exile?

The day before it was going to open in McLeod Ganj, everybody in town had an opinion on whether it should run or be shut down. Everybody was going by hearsay. After the first two shows, I was so relieved to see that it has managed to convey what I set out to do. Since then, it has travelled to a lot of places including Tibetan settlements. I haven’t gone everywhere but I have been told that people sometimes come with their own chairs if there are fewer seats in the auditorium. It has become a bit of a Tibetan community thing and I am very grateful that this has happened.

Pah-lak at Rang Shankara, Bengaluru on March 17 and 18, and at NCPA, Mumbai on March 25.