FringeReview India 2024
Relief Camp
Kalakshetra Manipur
Genre: Experimental Art, Historical, Physical Theatre, Political, World Theatre
Venue: Kala Academy
Festival: FringeReview India, Serendipity Arts Festival
Low Down
“Relief Camp” is a non-verbal experimental physical theatre play that vividly portrays the violent clashes between ethnic communities in one of India’s smaller states. It simultaneously reflects the universal struggle between individuals and oppressors, whether colonial powers or powerful state bodies.
Review
“Relief Camp” is a non-verbal experimental physical theatre play that vividly portrays the violent clashes between ethnic communities in one of India’s smaller states. It simultaneously reflects the universal struggle between individuals and oppressors, whether colonial powers or powerful state bodies.
Set in the state of Manipur, located in Northeast India and bordering Myanmar, the play explores the region’s turbulent history. With an important geopolitical position as a gateway for India’s connectivity with Southeast Asia and a current population of approximately 3.2 million people, Manipur has faced significant historical and contemporary challenges, culminating in the ethnic violence of May 2023.
The play is dramaturgically structured as a series of physical scenes that unfold chronologically, beginning with the British colonial rule of Manipur in the early 19th century and leading to the recent ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The title, “Relief Camp,” draws inspiration from the aftermath of this ongoing conflict, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of over 60,000 people, many of whom are forced to live in relief camps.
Performed by a cast of around 10 actors, the largely non-verbal performance is punctuated by brief spoken interludes to highlight key dates in Manipur’s modern history, such as 1947, when India gained independence, and 1949, when Manipur was merged with India. One notable exception is a dialogue-driven scene where two actors, portraying war journalists, address the audience directly to criticize the media’s silence on the violence engulfing this remote region. The scene emphasizes how global attention is often fixated on conflicts like those in Palestine or Ukraine, leaving other regions, like Manipur, overlooked and forgotten.
The 65-minute-long play juxtaposes Manipur’s colonial past with its current struggles as part of the Indian state. This is symbolized by the appearance of the Manipur flag (featuring a red background with a white emblem) set against the Union Jack and later the Indian tricolor. These symbols accompany stark depictions of oppression, from the hanging of Manipuri prisoners by British soldiers to the imposition of state power by modern India.
While the play succeeds in evoking empathy and raising awareness, it leaves the audience with a bitter under-taste of hopelessness. The audience is left with the impression that Manipur, unable to assert its aspirations externally, has projected this vicious cycle of destruction internally. The ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities are thus presented as the tragic culmination of a long history of subjugation, where larger powers consistently suppress smaller communities, leaving them to endure the pain of lost autonomy and identity.
