Our Research Associate Tenzing Dhamdul writes for Tibet Rights Collective, a
Delhi-based advocacy and policy research institute that aims to increase access
to information around politics, culture, traditions and language of Tibet by
offering a strategic overview of the ground situation, on the recently released
Tibetan Play Pah-Lak. A sneak peek of the article is as follows.
The set-up:
It was pouring cats and dogs in New Delhi but people came in scores including
our Indian sisters and brothers who made a fair chunk of the crowd regardless of
whether the play was in Tibetan language. It was a bit disheartening to see the
low turn-out of Tibetans, maybe they were taking part in political or other
unseen activities in the eyes of many. But what can you say, one cannot push
vision over others, one must come to their own self-realizations as that is when
it hits the heart.
I have not personally seen or read the original English script of Pah-Lak written
by Abhishek Majumdar as one had to be fortunate and privileged enough to get
a seat at the Royal Court Theatre in London. But I have had the opportunity to
read reviews from those who were able to witness it. The review on the Tibetan
Review titled “ Pah-La – A Shallow and Confusing Examination of Tibetan
Non-Violent Resistance 1 ” on 19 April, 2019 really caught my attention. This
article brought attention on how lacking the theatrical play was, both in terms of
accuracy and the compilation of cast members. The latter stressing on how there
was not a single Tibetan cast member, with several characters even being
portrayed by non-Asians and Tibetan views never taken into consideration.
Building upon those very deficiencies, Lhakpa Tsering and Harry Fuhrman with
Abhishek Majumdar’s desire 2 were now able to bring out the very play with a
Tibetan cast and also translated it in Tibetan language.
Arrival and initial reaction:
Being in New Delhi, I was fortunate to witness this play on 8 th October, 2022 at
the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts along with my friends who had
attended the Niguma Yoga Session (a yoga devised by Lady Niguma and shared
to us by H.E. Kalu Rinpoche). I had a preset thinking of whether this play
would more or less be similar to the ones we Tibetans used to perform in School
and even wondered why was it even necessary to have such a play in the first
place, if it fell along those lines.
Oh, how wrong was I, once entering the theatre and witnessing it first hand, I
was taken aback and it made me accept my own lack of understanding theatre
and the message it sends. It also made me think how Tibet and its conflict with
China goes beyond geographical territory and comprises a deep level of
intersectionality, which must be understood and taken into consideration when
resolving the Tibet-China conflict and was an angle which this play tries to
spotlight and engage upon constantly. And for the first time in an extended
period, I felt goosebumps not because of the cold but of emotions.
Pah-Lak, the theatrical play:
The play enthralled the audience, especially the booming masculine voice of
Deshar’s father whose image of a Tibetan who fights for Rangzen and complete
independence was highlighted…….
Read the complete article at https://www.tibetrightscollective.in/op-eds-commentaries/pah-lak-a-play-we-tibetans-must-entertain-to-remember-who-we-are
