‘The rise of theatre’ in Dharamsala

Lalit Mohan

A small but cosmopolitan place like Dharamsala is home to many world-famous actors, artists and technocrats. Now, a theatre community comprising international-level theatre artists has come up here and is promoting theatre in its raw form in the region. 

The community is taking theatre to streets and educating schoolchildren about theatre and trying to involve locals in the art.

Niranjani Iyer, a former faculty at the National School of Drama, is a pivotal force behind the rise of theatre in Dharamsala. While talking to The Tribune, Iyer said she was aspiring to involve the local population of Dharamsala in the art of theatre.

Iyer has founded Dharamsala Residential and International Festival for Theatre (DRIFT) which is a vibrant community of theatre practitioners from different parts of the country and the world. “It aims at bringing together the various communities of Dharamsala through the medium of theatre,” she said.

Niranjani said she came to Dharamsala 20 years ago with her family. Thereafter, she kept on visiting regularly for the teachings of the Dalai Lama. “I came for treatment of my mother, who was suffering from cancer from Tibetan physician Yashi Dhondan. Then, I went to France for my further studies in theatre. I came back to India and worked as a faculty at the National School of Drama. However, I always wanted to develop theatre in non-urban places,” she said.

Niranjani moved to Dharamsala in 2012 and started living in Naddi. I found that unlike most of the other places in India, Dharamsala did not have any indigenous form of theatre. “A few fellow artists including Sanya Jain from Delhi and Gurleen Arora came with me and founded DRIFT. The organisation took baby steps and now, it organises an annual theatre festival besides holding workshops in schools and other places,” she said.

She said since 2017, DRIFT has conducted workshops in local schools in Dharamsala and McLeodganj, public reading sessions in cafés and restaurants around the town on themes such as ‘Exile, Queer writings, Lok Kathayen, Original local writings, Food, Children Writings and Creation Myths’ among others. An evening of Kangra folk tales including Gaddi tales and songs was held last December at Hotel Dhauladhar as part of the HP Government’s Trigarth Festival.

This year, DRIFT annual festival will be at The Clubhouse (Hotel Bhagsu) in McLeodganj from March 6 to 9. Like every year, the festival would bring together artists from all over and local performances from Dharamsala. “This year, we have artists coming from Delhi and Singapore as well as Adishakti Theatre from Pondicherry and Akhoka from Manipur. The artists will be holding workshops on puppetry, physical theatre, music and movement. Participants and performers live and work together, helping each other backstage, ushering, ticketing and cooking all details that go into making a festival. This aspect makes DRIFT different from most theatre festivals. DRIFT festival is ideal for local Dharamsala residents who want to explore theatre and are looking for a platform to learn and hone skills,” Niranjani said.