MUMBAI, February 8: The political writings of German author Bertolt Brecht are barely understood by Indian playwrights. Theatre personalities of the city reached this agreement at a gathering organised by the Bertolt Brecht Janmashatabdi Samaroh Samiti. The meet, graced by street theatre activists, writer-directors and critics, termed the homegrown versions of Brecht's scripts as "grand and much-hyped distortions."Member organisations of the Samiti, formed in memory of Brecht's birth anniversary (1898-1956), included the Indian People's Theatre Association, Lokwangmay Gruha, Jaagar and Adivasi Sahitya Parishad. The celebrations started with a release of Marathi and Hindi translations of Brecht's poems. The discussion centred around rediscovering Brecht's Epic or Dialectic Theatre in the context of present challenges faced by Indian political theatre. Critic Kamlakar Nadkarni came down heavily on theatre directors like Jabbar Patel and Vijaya Mehta who "have deliberately eliminated the politics from Marathiadaptations of Brecht's works." Patel has concentrated on the music of Three Penny's Opera (Teen Paishyacha Tamasha), and Mehta stuck to the sentimental Caucasian Chalk Circle (Ajab Nyay Vartulacha). They have conveniently avoided Brecht's anti-fascist philosophy, he said.Dalit writer Sanjay Pawar remarked that Marathi playwrights and directors cannot be even expected to honestly adapt a Brecht play. "We are not clear in our political thoughts. Most of our so-called leftist playwrights write lyrics for an organisation like the Shiv Sena. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, who had once opposed plays like Ghashiram Kotwal, inaugurates Theatre Academy function and waxes eloquent on freedom of expression. And the director of Gandhi-Ambedkar complains against a casteist bias after being refused an award by the jury. We have to first think straight. And then we can think of meaningful political theatre," he said.Theatre critic Shanta Gokhale also pointed to the lack of political theatrein Maharashtra and other parts, including Bengal and Karnataka. "Like in Mumbai, there is a theatre vacuum in Calcutta too. No director can boast of serious political plays. With a leftist government in power, they do not know which issues to raise. So, they are contended doing Death of a Salesman, which cannot be termed `political' anyway."Writer and IPTA activist Ramesh Rajhans said Marathi and other playwrights could not emulate Brecht because "his philosophy of openness" was unacceptable to them. "Brecht believed in granting maximum intelligence to his audience. He never believed in the finality of a script, which is why he always rewrote his published plays," Rajhans informed.
