Trip to India, Rokeya’s homeland
What we wanted to learn:
We wanted to find out how people from India would respond to our western theatrical approach (Rokeya’s Dream, Feb 2009) to presenting Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and her writings.
We wanted to know how much people knew of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain in her homeland of India and her impact upon their society.
We wanted to learn how they would respond theatrically to Rokeya and her teachings using their background and culture.
We also want to promote Rose Bruford College as a partner with The Rokeya Project to develop possible links and cultural exchanges.
Why it was important:
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain is an important figure within the South Asian female rights movement, but it’s about more than just recognising Feminist figures outside of the Western Women’s Liberation Movement. Rather than working with a body of support through women’s groups and political rallies, Rokeya achieved much of her success independently whilst holding to her strong principles. This is one of the many reasons she should be remembered and honoured in the UK alongside other women’s rights activists.
Remaining deeply dedicated to her faith throughout her life, Rokeya fought for women’s right to be educated, even though she was accused of being blasphemous. She reasoned that the traditions that oppressed Muslim women were not in fact justified by the Koran but were misinterpretations of Islam. This rational response to her situation is lacking in the UK, where often religion is regarded as a negative when working for progress. The ability to balance her faith and be such a prominent social rights campaigner, activist and educationalist shows that it is possible to remain dedicated to faith and continue moving forward. She remains a positive example to young Muslim girls in the UK who must question what position their faith has in their lives and how it impacts on their daily decisions and life choices.
We created the production Rokeya’s Dream in 2009 because we felt it was important to create a visual and live stimulus based upon the life and teachings of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. Creating a piece of theatre seemed the best option for developing our initial work, as it would reach a larger and wider audience than her books and writings and would serve as an accessible introduction to Rokeya’s written works, which are not widely available. Rokeya’s writings are still important and relevant to a contemporary audience as she wrote of ideas way before her time with themes such as women’s’ education, gender equality, human rights, ecology, community cohesion and peace. The production was able to explore these themes explicitly in relation to contemporary Britain, investigating the relevance of the ideas to the women of today and the environmental situation we are all encountering. We were invited onto the project through Mrs. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe who had been working for some years previously on furthering public knowledge on Rokeya through readings and talks. We took the commission officially from Mahila Sanga, the Bangladeshi women’s group chaired by Mrs. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe.
Our trip to India was important to develop our knowledge as a company, to gain a better understanding of how Rokeya is seen in her own country and the impact she has had on India today. It was essential to find out what people in India thought of Rokeya, what they would produce when presented with Rokeya as a stimulus for a theatrical piece, and explore how different cultures may process the same information. Through this we would then be able to re-assess our successes and failures from the initial production of Rokeya’s Dream in 2009, and from this examine how we could improve it incorporating ideas and elements of Bengali culture from our first hand knowledge and learning.
How we went about it and how we found the resources:
The whole process from the end of the production to the trip to India took under year to organise and arrange. After the production there was a lot of interest and questions as to what should happen next. Mrs. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe was receiving invites from all over the globe; lots of influential academic people wanted to know more and praised our attempt at promoting Rokeya in the ‘West’. Yet India was the first port of call with invites from the prestigious universities Rabindra Bharati and Viswa Bharati. It was understood from quite early on that we were unable to send the production of Rokeya’s Dream out to India due to the director Mukul Ahmed having other commitments at the time. So it was decided that the core people in developing the piece would go out and discuss the production with the intention of creating a new piece when out there with the people they worked with.
Organising and gathering the core group that would be going out to India was the first task but was not actually finalized until January 2010 with our last member Showmi Das confirming her input. The initial team going to India was Shabeena Butt (costume assistant and translator), Claudia Jazz Haley (designer), Rae Leaver (script writer), Alia Wilson (publicity), Julian Bryant (representative and mentor form Rose Bruford Collage) and Mrs. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe who was the founder and principle visionary for The Rokeya Project collective. Unfortunately Shabeena Butt was unable to join us on our trip to India, and it became necessary to find a replacement team member. That is when Showmi Das was approached in November 2009 to share her expertise on Choreography, as well as her translation skills.
There were two big pushes in the momentum of the group to get the Kolkata 2010 trip together. The first was from October to November 2009 when Rose Bruford took an interest in the project as a research and development opportunity and proposed to fund it. This was when Claudia Jazz Haley and Rae Leaver started to develop the first draft proposal for the trip to India, and the Collective’s business plan. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe had already been communicating with her contact in India, Mr. Prantosh Bandyopadhyay for several months. Together they had already started organsing the trip and arranging the universities (and other venues) we would be visiting and working with in India. Other attempts to gain funding had also begun at this point. Mr. Prantosh Bandyopadhyay, who himself is a prolific academic on Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and was our main contact to India.
The second push was in January when, despite our attempts to find funding, we realised as a company we had very few resources to reach India in the few months we had left. A new proposal was written up and workshop plans were redeveloped with more of a focus on the trip to India and less on the wider future. We also started to actively pursue Plumstead Manor School as a collaborator, as it came to light we were to be working with Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls School in India (that were celebrating their centenary since Rokeya herself created the school). We thought it would be a brilliant opportunity to link the two high schools together, mirroring Rose Bruford College’s expressed interest in creating links and possible educational exchanges between themselves and the two universities we were visiting. Funding was also another concern; we confirmed funding from Rose Bruford College and distributed some left over funding from Mahila Sangha’s production investment. With these we had just enough to make the trip happen, though with very little contingency. We applied for sponsorship with Emirate Airlines and the British Council, and applied for funding from the Prince’s Trust and other funding bodies such as the Cherie Blair Foundation; we also approached small business for sponsorship. However at that point we were working extremely close to our deadline and therefore these organizations were unable to consider our project in time for our leaving date. In the end due to the restraints on our budget, we had to be very stringent with our resources, and participants had to fund personal expenses such as insurance and visas from their own pocket.
Our findings of the process and India’s response:
The Process
As a fresh new company we found that creating a touring project was as with any new project: 80% of time spent organizing the financial and bureaucratic side of the trip whilst only spending 20% of our time and energy on the artistic planning of trip. It took a lot of time and persistence to get The Rokeya Project collective out to India, and even though there were distinct issues with working as a cohesive group we succeeded in that respect. When things were overlooked or forgotten by members of the team, other members quickly picked them up and followed through without hesitation. This lead to workloads being shifted around and some things being left until it was too late; to give one example the fundraising for the trip. Loopholes and mistakes were discovered; from there we can learn and improve our next venture.
Summary of action
When in India we realized quickly our well-laid plans for the workshops would have to become flexible to work with each institute we were visiting and their timetables. As Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe said many a time “we’re like Jazz music”, that is to say that were we to succeed in our endeavors we would have to improvise and be adaptable, but still be completely in control of our individual areas of expertise and craft, to ensure high quality art.
Rabindra Bharati was our first workshop and therefore (as can be expected from a first run) a few mistakes were made and a lot of lessons were learnt. One example of this was in the expectation of the level of English understood by the students; despite assurances before our trip that it would be negligible, we quickly found this not to be the case, and had to quickly re-examine how to make the presentations interesting and stimulating despite the language barrier. When at Viswa Bharati we made these improvements and consequently our delivery of the workshop improved. We worked with around 50 students from Rabindra Bharati and then another 30 students at Viswa Bharati, which further highlighted our need to be adaptable to group sizes, range of age and experience, and training.
We began our workshops by presenting the production Rokeya’s Dream, leading with Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe giving a speech in Bengali about how she began promoting Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain in Britain, leading to commissioning the play to reach a wider audience. Alia Wilson delivering a presentation on Rose Bruford College, the courses offered and the new MA courses in the pipelines to the students followed this. We then proceeded into a more in depth look at the production Rokeya’s Dream by showing the film and intersecting it with explanations made by Rae Leaver on script choices, Claudia Jazz Haley on design and visual decisions and Showmi Das describing the movement choices. After a detailed question and answer into the production, Rose Bruford College and British theatre lead by Showmi Das, with translation at times, we concluded our first day.
The second day of the workshop started with separating the participants into 4 equal groups. We then gave these groups 2 hours to read, discuss, and develop a theatrical response to the literature we presented to them by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. This literature included Sultana’s Dream and a few stories to each group of Avarodbbasini (Behind Seclusion) a series of short stories about women in Purdah. After a lunch break we gave the students another hour and a half to continue developing their 5 to 15 minute pieces. The students then proceeded to perform their pieces. This was slightly different at Viswa Bharati where we had extra time to develop the work, and watched the performances before lunchtime on the third day.
Initial responses from Q and A
The Question and Answer sessions after our presentations on the first day of the workshops at both universities were very illuminating as to what they thought of our production, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, their interest in Rose Bruford and in British theatre. They questioned strongly the lack of male presence on stage, which lead to further explanation of Rokeya, Sultana’s Dream and a debate about having a male role in such a pro-feminist piece. This was the second major lesson we learnt, after the language barrier (which in itself was prominent, especially considering that English was some student’s third or fourth language): the people who know of Rokeya were vast in knowledge of her however those who barely recognized her name even from schools or building in her namesake.
They where particularly interested in the techniques we used to create 9 characters using 3 actors, with on stage costume changes, colour themes and use of lighting and fabrics to imply the magical transformation from the attic into Lady Land. The idea of having a pre-made sari to make a costume change easier for the actor was a new concept for the students as on-stage costume changes do not appear in Indian Theatre. They were unfamiliar with the concept of an actor playing multiple roles but understood the necessity for it when working in small studio theatres and on a small budget. They linked this to their knowledge of Brecht, which led to further questions about the fashions and traditions of British theatre.
They asked lots of probing questions concerning the financial ease of creating a production, funding training and the attitude towards the theatrical profession and training. One of their major concerns was the lack of money they had to create theatre and therefore Street Theatre became a hot topic. We discussed possible ways of creating a piece about Rokeya’s messages on the streets and quite a few of them were keen to do this themselves in the streets of Kolkata.
These students have difficulties finding the resources to create their art, as do many young practitioners; however their passion, drive and dedication to overcome this to create theatre is incredible. We were invited to a performance directed and performed by one of the students in the workshop, Jay Chaterjee. He had produced a piece that was a collage of poetry, dance, and drama with a dancer from another university, Jadabpur University, in Bengali, Italian and English. It was a small production he had been developing consistently for two years, with plans to develop and adapt further. The production struck us as having many similarities in style (both in performance and development) with the work we ourselves developed in our time at Rose Bruford College. So when questions arose about Rose Bruford, despite concerns about funding, for the students it wasn’t a case of ‘if’ they were going to be able to come but ‘when’. As the Head of Drama at Rabindra Bharati said to us “we might be poor in wealth but we are rich in heart”. We found them to also be rich in ‘action’ judging by the students’ dynamism in creating their theatrical responses on the second day.
Their own theatrical responses
At Rabindra Bharati the students created astonishing pieces of theatre in under 2 and ½ hours dealing with a contemporary engagement with the theme of female oppression. These performances created some incredible visual and physical images. One group illustrated the seclusion and imprisonment of a bride prior to her wedding by creating a fence of men that engulfed her, suffocating her. Another showed the oppression of the female voice through many hands covering a kneeling girls’ mouth, face and neck. Another group decided to perform a physical piece expressing the over arching themes in Rokeya’s writing. The men in the group attached string to their women and leaving them to struggle in the bonds until one woman worked her way out and proceeded to free eachother. They chose to stay silent throughout, and called the piece ‘The Sound of silence’. There was also use of Rokeya as the narrator and liberator in women’s stories both based upon the text Avarodbbasini (which mirrored our own production) and a few new stories that emerged from the students’ knowledge of female oppression today. Each group was of mixed specialties, some were studying directing, script writing and other specialties, but all of the members in a group participated and performed.
Whilst at Viswa Bharati, a university with a very strict ethos and attitude towards the study of arts, the students created pieces using Rokeya’s writings as context and Tagore’s theories of drama, dance and song as the art form. They produced very different kinds of theatre, some focusing on the classic form of story telling in the round, others incorporating painting into their performances as bench marks though the story, harking back to Brecht’s own use of placards. One group created a metaphorical physical piece that focused upon the essence of Rokeya’s teachings of education and knowledge though religion. This group entrapped the female performers with scarves whilst the males stalked the perimeter like bloodthirsty hyenas. The girls are free to read the Koran, but as they reach out to expand their knowledge they are reprimanded. Eventually, a bardic male signifying Tagore offered his book to one of the girls, leading to all the girls escaping their constraints and participating in a dance. Their theatrical responses to Rokeya’s writing were very direct. They didn’t shy away from the brutality of the subject matter. The popular theme that was picked up by all of the pieces was female oppression and enlightenment through education.
We went over there with the intention of presenting to them our approach to Rokeya, and how we responded through theatre. We then inquired as to how they would do this. We were overwhelmed by the caliber of work due to the time restraints. It was a joy to watch them work, and to participate when invited to. The students all showed an in-depth understanding of not only Indian theatre, but also of theatre techniques being used in Europe. It was also interesting how many of the students commented upon how Rokeya’s messages are still relevant today, and of the necessity to promote them in India. One comment a student made on their evaluation form was “Rokeya’s problem is our problem”.
Evaluation Forms
A large majority of students on their evaluation forms expressed an interest in studying at or working with Rose Bruford with some very strong comments illustrating this:
“After complete my graduation degree I want to go to Rose Bruford College. Please arrange me, how is it possible, I am really interested. – I will complete my future from Rose Bruford College. Please.”
- Tapas Biswas, Rabindra Bharati
“I want to went Rose Bruford College and want to know much about acting. It is incomplete for me.”
- Ahana Sarkar, Rabindra Bharati
“I would rather want to work with Rokeya’s Project and also Rose Bruford College, being a girl I would also spread Rokeya’s message and her believe in girls education to the whole world. Being a Drama and Theatre student I would love to study in Rose Bruford College and work with them as they bring out the talent of students and help them to achieve their goal.”
– Nikita Chhetri, Viswa Bharati
“Rose Bruford College is trying to up bring all the things we have in us. This institute is helping the student to know their potentialities. It is very inspiring the students who have interests in theatre. I would love to complete on education on theatre from Rose Bruford College”
– Gasima Patowasy, Viswa Bharati
Another keen point of interest for the students, and for everyone we met was that a group of Westerners would be so earnestly promoting an Asian icon both in the west and east, and created a production based upon a “Indian story of struggling women”. Some of the students commented upon our work as inspiring, and a motivator for them to create their own theatrical pieces, documentaries, paintings, designs, dances and street theatre. They also want to play an active part in The Rokeya Project from India with these art forms, and help us develop our work further and promote Rokeya’s messages to a wider audience. “Our idea and your idea if mixed and we make a full production.”[sic] This is definitely an exciting and rare opportunity and would be a good starting point for another visit to India.
As well as our work with the two universities, we were also privileged to work with Sakhawat Memorial Girls School, as we had previously mentioned in planning. Here we focused on a much more free-form exploration of what we did during the production of Rokeya’s Dream; Showmi Das lead a dance workshop based on the choreography of the show, and Rae Leaver lead a dramatic exploration of the life of Rokeya using the girls’ own responses to the question “What does Rokeya mean to you?”
We were also invited to give a talk on Western folk traditions and culture at the University of Burdwan’s Women’s Seminar, alongside leading academics from India and around the world. This talk lead to creating further contacts for possible research in the future.
Cultural Exchange and interaction
After working with the students during the day we were invited to several cultural and social occasions in the evenings. Every night we visited landmarks, saw a dance drama or band, partook in a public celebration or had dinner at an academic’s house. This trip was undoubtedly a cultural exchange.
At every institute we visited they took personal care of us. Not only did they pay for all our transport, accommodation and hospitality but they also added personal care and attention to ensure we were well looked after and happy. The Head of Drama, Mr. Tarak Sen Gupta at Viswa Bharati met us at the station and made sure we settled into our guesthouse before rushing off to organize other parts of the drama festival. Tea, sweets, and fresh fruit were ready and waiting for us when we arrived at Rabindra Bharati with bouquets of flowers and invites from the schoolteachers at Sakhawat Memorial Government’s Girls School. Academics presented us with books from their own collections on Rokeya, Tagore, and some Bengali language books to help us learn. At the beginning of each workshop we were welcomed with speeches from the institutes. We were greeted by Registrars and top academics who presented us with flowers and gifts were presented, and bindi’s and scarves were placed upon us. We were held in very high regard by all we met and spoke to even though we were their junior and there to learn, they respected this and encouraged it.
On our first day we were honoured to lead the rally for Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls School alongside Iqubal Bahar Choudhury, head of the Bengali Service of Voice of America, opening the yearlong celebrations of the schools Centenary since Rokeya opened it in 1911. This rally was attended by the Education Minister of West Bengal Shri Partha Day, who we met and talked to. We attended the schools evening celebrations as well, where the Education Minister was also present with the Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhabed Bhattacharya and two other ministers from the government. At both of these events there was a lot of national press and cameras that through curiosity interviewed us and later reported our visit in national newspapers such as the Indian Express and the Times of India. along with some television news footage on our visit. During this we promoted Rose Bruford College as well as The Rokeya Project.
During these particular celebrations we saw a hundred girls perform through out the evening. Entertainment included an Urdu drama “Kayamat Ke Rang” about the struggles and triumph of a family dealing with a father who felt cursed by his daughters, English drama called “They Dared” about the works of Mother Theresa, Joan of Arc and Rokeya, and the Bengali Dance Drama “Chitrangada”. All of these performances were of an impressive standard; we assumed they had been practicing for months with professional choreographers only to learn it had been the teachers who organized and taught the girls and only within 2 weeks. The following night the schools alumni invited us to their celebrations where we watched a form of radio play called “Talk” presented on stage with focuses upon the speech rather then the visuals, performed by two revered actors in this field Sri Jagannath and Sm. Urmimala Basu. Also we saw famous popular icon and singer Sm. Lopamudra Mitza, a rare opportunity that would be quite expensive to see in concert.
When at Viswa Bharati we attended a lecture given by Professor Guy Beck, an American musician and theologist who had abandoned Western music in favour of studying traditional Hidustani music. This was a real eye-opening experience for us; seeing how this Western man had had his entire experience of music turned on its head by the new ideas offered by Indian music. The next night we watched an amazing performance based upon Hindu Myth Madhuri, whilst on our last night we attended a folk music concert tribute to Shah Abdul Karim, famous Baul. This itinerary of professional theatre and music events was phenomenal and the attendance from the students from across all disciplines showed that the arts were an enormous part of student life.
In addition to all the cultural events we were also taken to the resting place of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain herself were there is now a school teaching girls just outside Kolkata. Here we met the school’s Principal and had a ceremony of respect and blessing to the memorial were Rokeya once was buried. We then continued to the Panihati Estate, a world heritage site at one of the tributaries of the Ganges, where Tagore himself had lived when 11 years old. Occupying this huge beautiful house and gardens are some hundred girls ranging from 4 to 18 years old. It has been turned into a home for disadvantaged girls who can no longer stay with their families for financial reasons and will not turn them out on the streets. Here they receive a good education and a home where they can grow up safe and happy. It was beautiful to see a heritage site be used for a purpose of good with government backing and not just left to get into disrepair or preserved for a few tourists to visit. We hope to return in the future and develop a project there as this is just one of many legacies related to Rokeya’s fight.
Conclusion
Process
As previously stated we did have issues in the process of planning the trip in England such as sustaining a cohesive group, miscommunications for tasks and issues with obtaining funding. Yet there were other issues and problems that came to light whilst we were out there. Through out arrangements we had been dealing with certain third parties and not directly to the institutes in question due to language barriers, technology interference (lack of computer access in India) and cultural differences which caused events to move slowly and information to be misplaced or forgotten. Therefore when we arrived certain expectations on both sides were somewhat different, for example it was expected from us to have an actual Rose Bruford faculty member to discuss possible links, exchanges and proposals in a more definite manner. Also the students, on some evaluation forms, requested a certificate of participation, as it would give the workshop more worth, this we remedied at our second workshop.
We also had expectations of being in control of the workshop times and space without interruptions yet again due to cultural differences we did not take into consideration the length of time for “Felicitations and Welcome Sessions” that ate into our working time. This could be corrected in the future by establishing direct contact with a member of the core team and ensuring that we ask specific questions relating to what the host expects of us rather than trying to find out through third parties. Yet this will also be made easier by our own guarantee to learn Bengali before the next trip.
Another key point to raise was a question of time. With such a full program in such a short space of time we were only able to do two day workshops when ideally we wanted to do three. Had we done three we could have really developed a dialogue with the students about their performances and then developed them further with perhaps an aim to perform them to a wider audience other than the workshop participates and ourselves. This would have given us both a chance to work, reflect, evaluate and develop the pieces and possibly give the students a sense of creating a piece of art to be continued further once we had left and not just a workshop exercise.
Questions and aims
Our aims and objectives were simple; to share our experience of dramatising the life and works of Rokeya, and to learn from other young practitioners in a different culture how they would do the same. We could have been more precise, yet we were unable to do this without knowing what experiences we were going to encounter. We did illustrate our western theatrical approach (Rokeya’s Dream, Feb 2009) to presenting Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and we were surprised with the questions and positive responses we received. We did not expect however the many suggestions we received to further our ambition and creative work to promote Rokeya. We perhaps should have been intentionally looking for possible partners for our venture to work in India with us. During the trip we did recognize those students we worked with who might be interested. What’s more we learnt how they would respond theatrically to Rokeya with their background and culture, we got a taste of what they were capable of and what they are concerned with as theatre practitioners.
Another major lesson for us, as mentioned before, was the extent to which the people of India knew of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. Those who knew of her were academics or went to schools in her name; most however knew nothing about her except maybe her name from landmarks. One journalist Claudia Jazz Haley spoke to noted how this prolific lady had some how become a lost voice, a lost hero to her own people in her own country, yet here were 4 girls from the west saying ‘isn’t she great, isn’t she a source for inspiration for art and isn’t she still relevant today!’ This was important to note as it meant our company’s mission is not only pertinent to the West but also to India. One student wrote on her evaluation form: “Actually I didn’t know about Rokeya before their workshop. But more I understand Rokeya’s work and I felt by heart. Rokeya is a role model.” Rokeya is unknown however her legacy has impacted upon India with Homes for disadvantaged girls, and women and girls entering education as well as respecting their religion to further themselves in society.
Another aim for our trip was to promote Rose Bruford College as a partner with The Rokeya Project and to develop possible links and cultural exchanges with universities Rabindra Bharati and Viswa Bharati. The company feels this went extremely well considering we are graduates from the college and unable to make guarantees to the Universities we visited. Yet the responses we received from the teachers in ways of joint research proposals, exchange programs, and possible future productions suggests we impressed them with our knowledge and commitment to Rose Bruford College. Likewise with the students as their overwhelming desire to visit and be educated at Rose Bruford College implies we have encouraged them to pursue this avenue when considering furthering their education. When considering this element of our trip it would have been more effectively done by a Rose Bruford Faculty member however we did have Alia Wilson to play this role. In hindsight it would have been more efficient and cost effective if either, or both, Claudia Jazz Haley and Rae Leaver had taken this role as well their creative roles, as they too have the same amount of knowledge and understanding of Rose Bruford College. Even though before the trip to Kolkata it was thought this would have detracted from the creative elements and needed to be considered as a separate role.
Methodology
Our visit and workshops were a taster session, just a sample of what we could achieve and develop for all parties involved. We provided the Universities out there with an example of our work when we could have, as was discussed, taken the production out there and performed it. This would have been the ideal option however this would have been expensive and an organisational nightmare with the director and actors engaged in other commitments. We also had the opportunity to see how they develop work, and given enough time, could have created full productions. This appetizer of potential and promise has established the growth of ideas regarding another trip and this time to produce work in collaboration, which we would not have had if we just sent the students a reading list and questionnaire on their responses to Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain; that would have been cheaper but pointless and impersonal.
Initial Feedback
“On the year of Centenary celebration of her school, Rose Bruford College graduates arrived as angels of peace movements. One leading daily captioned ‘Britons are educating Indian students about the forgotten women emancipator of South Asia.’”
- Prantosh Bandyopadhyay, Member Baitanik & Suraha-Sampriti
“Their mission was successful because of their creative abilities appropriately expressed under the splendid guidance of Mrs.Saheen Westcombe. Many participants in the workshops and in the seminar, both teachers and students, appreciated their easy and lucid approach and the sincerity of purpose.”
- Prantosh Bandyopadhyay, Member Baitanik & Suraha-Sampriti
“Good to see you and your inspiring talk at the Symposium on Thursday with the group of participants. A real move into the big world from RB graduates- good luck with it all, contemporary India is a great space of possibilities!”
- Steve Duncan, Artist and writer
On our return to England we presented our experience with a talk lead by Claudia Jazz Haley and Mrs. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe to the participants of Rose Bruford College’s Symposium. We received some excellent feedback and a lot of interest from the college, particularly from people wishing to volunteer in the future. This, combined with feedback from our contacts in India has gone in to forming our plans for the future.
Future developments
The Rokeya Project –
We are currently just starting the process of setting up our company as a non-profit company and investigating the possibility of procuring charity status.
Whilst out in India we started developing ideas for further productions and adaptations of Rokeya’s writings, in particular Avarodbbasini (Behind Seclusion). One idea being a showcase of three stories from Avarodbbasini, each one to be developed and created in a different style by Rae Leaver, Claudia Jazz Haley, and Showmi Das and performed as a triple bill. In the long term the company plans to produce a collaborative production with some of the students we met and worked with during this trip, out in India. There are also possibilities of perhaps making this production collaboration with students from both Rose Bruford and Rabindra Bharati.
We are also extending our plans for funding to include fundraising events such as an Indian Mythical Summer Ball, “Pay-what-you-can” Curry Nights, and Open-Mic Nights based upon the works of Rokeya.
Rose Bruford –
We managed to engage the Heads of departments at both universities, of which are considered as the Oxford and Cambridge universities of India, in dialogues about possible links and exchanges with Rose Bruford College.
1. Rabindra Bharati University is interested in an student exchange program, which we believe to be ideal as they work to a similar ethos as Rose Bruford, have similar courses already established and MA courses running. There was a huge interest from the students to be educated in England particularly at MA level, however there is a matter of funding their education abroad. A student exchange program might be the easiest and quickest way setting up this connection yet a future scholarship would be a good idea, in the name of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain. Through the registrar of Jadhabpur University, Rajat Bandyopadhyay, who had been the silent negotiator for Rabindra Bharati in the lead up to our visit, it has also been suggested that the institutions could engage in a collaborative research project. This would need to be discussed further.
NEXT STEP: A personal letter thanking the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Bharati Mukherjee, for the opportunity to work with the students and for opening up exciting possibilities for the future. Secondly sending an email to Dr. Somnath Sinha, Professor of Indian Theatre (copying in Professor Amita Dutt Uday Shankar, Dean of Department of Fine Arts), about considering the possibilities of cultural and student exchange. Thirdly contacting, through email, Rajat Bandyopadhyay about collaborative research prospects by firstly stating Rose Bruford’s own strengths and areas for improvement (and they will reply likewise) to allow a frank dialogue to grow.
2. Viswa Bharati are currently developing a MA course that potentially could work brilliantly with Rose Bruford’s new Multi Cultural MA plans. Most importantly, Mr. Tarak Sen Gupta, Head of Drama and prolific theatre practioner (having worked with people like Peter Brook on his famous Mahabharata and Marcel Marceau on Indian mime) has also offered to conduct a 5 to 15 day investigation into Tagore Drama with the students of Rose Bruford College as part of the 150th Celebration of Tagore which will be celebrated world wide including Paris. This would end in a production that could be performed as part of Symposium next year.
NEXT STEP: An email of thanks should be sent to Mr. Tarak Sen Gupta, Head of Drama, but also with a proposal for him to visit next year. He has expressed an interest in visiting Rose Bruford and has offered to work with students and participants for 5 to 15 days on an investigation into Tagore Drama that would lead to a performance. Mr. Tarak Sen Gupta will be working during the 150th celebrations of Tagore in Paris and would be willing to extend his travels to Sidcup, Kent, but would need to know soon as he will have to make arrangements.
3. As The Rokeya Project know these initial links and contacts for Rose Bruford College personally The Rokeya Project’s continued involvement in these proceeding will have to be confirmed. As we have an active interest in nurturing these developments we could become Rose Bruford Ambassadors: making face-to-face contacts for the college in India (and further a field), mentoring the exchange students, and developing collaborative productions and events.
Spin offs – The school aspect
Plumstead Manor High School have been slower in responding to the idea of creating a cultural exchange and student pen-pal scheme with Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls School. So we are going to also approach other schools in the Tower Hamlets area to see if they would be interested in such an opportunity which Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls schools is eager to encourage.
The Rokeya Project has other hopes to work with the House for Disadvantaged Girls at Panihati Estate as they too are a part of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s legacy and should be reminded and inspired by this fact.
Further into the future our company hopes to go to other countries, such as Bangladesh, Fiji, USA and Japan, to work with communities there to promote Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain but also to find their cultural lost heros and voices who can be related to our original source of inspiration.