Natak Vihar Community Participatory Theatre
Based on action research principles Natak Vihar was led by Principal Facilitator Dr Manjula O’Connor in association with Theatre Director Dr Rosemary Blight of the University of Melbourne. It was conducted in Greater Metropolitan Melbourne with 172 Australian-Indian women and men.
The project was funded by the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC).
Street Theatre is much loved by people in India gave rise to the concept using community participatory theatre project “Natak Vihar” (Sanskrit for Theatre Space).
The aim was to explore community led solutions to domestic violence.
172 men and women came together and created cultural construction of family life in Australia with ideal happy family scene to inspire the audience and theatre scenes that explored solutions to domestic violence in the South Asian context Videotapes on Natak Vihar can be found on YouTube.
Read the ACHRH special Natak Vihar Newsletter dated June 2016 at this website.
“This is theatre at its most intimate, raw, and powerful. Because everyone in the room is a participant in this performance, including the actors, who offer their own thoughts during the discussions, and as they replay and rerun scenes.
And as we watch marriage being treated as an obligation and financial investment, women disempowered by both men and other women, and men allowing their insecurities to build up until they become deadly, we recognise what’s happening. This is not just a performance for any of us.
It’s all real”.
Review of Natak vihar by a Journalist – May 05, 2016. by Aparna Ananthuni published in .The Indian Link http://www.indianlink.com.au/
Thank you for sending this link to your participatory theater workshop. I love the use of this creative mechanism for sharing knowledge and engaging the audience around such serious topics. I am sending it to my team, who are conducting research with refugee women on IPV and mental health. I am so impressed and appreciative of your innovative work. Well done,