It has been two years since Delhi-based theatre director Joy Maisnam visited his ancestral village, Pungdongbam, 13 km from Imphal in Manipur. During this time, ethnic conflict has ripped apart the state, adding fresh bloodshed to its turbulent history. “I am Meitei and have many friends who are Kuki but now they don't take my calls anymore. Maybe, they are afraid. There are reports of phones being tapped to find the locations of people,” says Maisnam, who passed out of Delhi's National School of Drama in 2008 and London International School of Performing Arts in 2017. Violence has been a constant in Maisnam's theatre. He has looked at it from many angles – from the declining number of the Nongkin, the state bird of Manipur, in the 2015 play, Echo, to 2017's Journey of Sorrow, about farmer suicides. In 2019, Maisnam's Andha Yug, based on a Dharamvir Bharti text about the Kurukshetra war, won the Best Play, Best Stage Design and Best Costume awards at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META). This month, Maisnam is back at META with another play, AgniSuta Draupadi. It is again on the Kurukshetra war but seen through the eyes of the woman who is blamed for it. In a conversation between workshops, he spoke about his practice: Why do you turn to epics to comment on contemporary realities? I feel if I do a play based on an epic story, it would resonate with everybody in India. Somehow, a story from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana or a folk tale strikes at the emotional core of audiences across the country. The position of a woman during war was brought alive by another Manipuri play, Heisnam Kanhailal and Heisnam Sabirti Devi's Draupadi. Did this classic inspire you? I was at NSD in 2005-06, when I watched Sabirti Devi as Draupadi and was shocked by its bold, symbolic protest at the end. The play, based on a work by Mahashweta Devi, was a response to the atrocities committed by security forces on women in Manipur. The play disturbed society, its show was stopped. But, when Thangjam Manorama was raped and killed in custody, the Mothers of Manipuri stood in front of Kangla Fort and protested nude in the way Sabitri Devi has done on stage. The lesson I took away from the play was that theatre had to stay ahead of its time. Draupadi is the reason I keep thinking about what my contribution to society can be. How does AgniSuta Draupadi differ from the mythological plays that have become popular? We have seen the great war of the Mahabharata from the eyes of the Pandavas, the Kauravas and Krishna. What would Draupadi have to say about it? She married five men. Would that be accepted today? Did she accept it? My theatre is influenced by the culture of Manipur. Historically, the women of Manipur have been leaders at home, in the farms, and in fighting authority. When I came to live in Delhi, I realised that in north India women do not have a lot of freedom. I wondered what Draupadi would want to say about how a war happened simply because she had laughed at her brother-in-law. You have grown up amid violence in Manipur, and even been attacked by militant groups and security forces. How did you respond to the unrest as a young person? My village is on the foothills and, when I return home, I go to the room where I used to sleep as a child. I see the walls on which I used to write constantly because I never used to talk to anybody. I am afraid to go in there now. I did not know, and my family did not know, that I was suffering from depression. I am afraid that illness will come back for me. Does AgniSuta Draupadi refer to the role being played by women in the current violence in Manipur? That is the subject of my next play, Endless Nights, which revolves around women who are keeping their villages safe by keeping watch at night. These women haven't slept at home for almost a year, because they are spending the nights outside as the violence continues. It is ironic that the worst sufferers of the present violence are Meities and Kukis, two communities who always enjoyed a friendly relationship in my childhood. Peace between the communities will come only if the state acts. Maybe then, the Ima or mothers of Manipur will go home to rest.
