la revue de presse - Le Théâtre du Soleil

Express India, Monday, January 07, 2008Aftab from war-torn Afghanistan, with rays of hopeNew Delhi, January 6As lights fell on the stage, their faces lit up, and you couldn’t miss the excitement.The young actors from Afghanistan were doing their first international show, afterall.The theatre group, Aftab, performed The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Sri RamCentre on Sunday as part of the National School of Drama’s (NSD) TheatreFestival.India as a choice for their first international performance was more circumstantialthan intentional, they say. They got the invitation after an NSD member visitedAfghanistan last year and saw the troupe perform.The 22-member troupe is one of the few groups in that country involved in theatre.These 20-year-olds are among the few trying to revive Afghani theatre as an artform after what they call “the devastation caused by the US in 2001”. The troupe istherefore called ‘Aftab’, which means the rising sun.“Afghanistan has had a long history of theatre but all that was completely lostduring the war. I am proud of the fact that we are in the process of regaining the lostglory,” says Omid Rawendah, one of the actors. Like Omid, all actors in the troupeare students of a drama institute in Kabul.Omid says the Afghani theatre was rekindled in 2004 due to the efforts of MadameAriane Mnouchkine, a European theatre personality. “She organised a workshop inKabul in which 130 actors participated. The best 21 were chosen to form Aftab.”Written by Bertolt Brecht, The Caucasian Chalk Circle has been directed byAbolghassem Absalan. He says his play is based on the present day Afghanistanand the country in the aftermath of war. Talking about his group of young actorswho are still in college, he says: “Working with a young group gave me theopportunity to use a workshop-like environment and I could experiment with myown theory of quantum theatre.”“We are happy to be in India where theatre is unbridled and it is a great opportunityfor all of us,” says Shaakaibo, one of the two girls in the group and a Bollywoodenthusiast. “I adore Esha Deol and love the way she grooves.”“In Afghanistan, we watch more Hindi movies than even Indians do here,” saysMahmood Sharifi. “You can learn a lot from them,” says Shaakaibo.