2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

The Jana Sanskriti Centre located in India and founded by Sanjoy Ganguly is the most iconic, international, ‘post-Boalian’, operation of Theatre of the Oppressed. This organization has built strong communities of active citizens throughout India, challenging detrimental social-norms and redistributing power. ‘Khelar Ghar’ or “A doll’s house” is a play created, directed and performed by Jana Sanskriti. It addresses the sexist and patriarchal family structure prevalent within Indian society. With inherently Indian, song sound and image, what JS - albeit, maintains effectively through this play, is perspective and understanding, one that crosses international borders. The successful forum session afterward is the process of convergence, where spectators see their reality and develop further understanding of how the patriarchy functions. Jana Sanskriti serves as a reminder to our global theatre community; our duty as artists extends beyond entertainment and charm. We reflect the complexities of human life, create platforms for political revolution, and are indicators of civil progress and development. Their work has consistently proved the impact of ‘spect-acting’. The ‘Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed’ successfully, engages and empowers local communities of West Bengal India, to incite action against prevalent social issues. Their work epitomizes the theory and techniques of Practitioner -Augusto Boal. 2. An overview of Theatre of The Oppressed and The Jana Sanskriti Centre Augusto Boal’s central philosophy can be found in the first chapter of ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’ - Aristotle's Coercive System of Tragedy. Here he deconstructs Aristotelian Mimesis; deriving meaning from the phrase ‘Art imitates Nature’. Boal establishes that ‘nature tends towards

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