DramatiQue

What irks me most about the whole issue is that there is an immediate assumption that the theatre group is staging the play to deliberately cause harm to the community; as though it were part of some larger pogrom

Freedom of artistic expression in India is a complex minefield. While the constitution guarantees it, numerous endeavours are stopped because they might ‘ cause a law and order problem’. What this means is that those seeking a ban on a painting / play/ book resort to violence; thereby allowing the state functionaries to prevent the performance as a precautionary measure.

As a nation we seem to have adopted an even more intolerant stance to criticism. Arresting a Facebook poster who grumbled about the traffic, the online bashing that critics of our Prime Minister get are all signs that the threshold has dropped. These views/ ideas are met with such violent hostility that the state seems more preoccupied in preventing the views being aired, than actually protecting the citizen who is at risk. Rohinton Mistry’s Fine Balance being withdrawn because of a non flattering section on the Shiv Sena is a great example of this. Finding out whether it was actually beef or not, is more important than the fact that a man was murdered, irrespective of what he was eating.

It is in this scenario that the vitriol against the recent play Agnes of God seems even more daft and stupid. The right to protest against something is an inalienable right, but the proportions that this protest has gone to borders on the ridiculous. Agnes of God is based on a true incident about a young nun who gives birth to a child. The child is found dead, and the question is who did it? Who is the father? And is there a link?

The objectors, depending on their faction, have a variety of complaints: it demeans their faith, the wording of the ad, the lack of Catholics in the cast, the representation of a nun in the ad, etc. Some wanted the play banned, others wanted the ads withdrawn and some in a very unchristian way, wanted retribution for the hurt sentiments.

What irks me most about the whole issue is that there is an immediate assumption that the theatre group is staging the play to deliberately cause harm to the community; as though it were part of some larger pogrom.

Nothing is further from the truth.

The urgency to be upset seems to supersede trying to solve the problem, which, in my view, could have been solved by the parties sitting down at a table and talking. The trend of calling for bans or arrests as a first recourse is very disturbing. The arguments presented in front of the Minister of Minority Affiars, felt exactly like the ones we made in the principal’s after a fight with a classmate.

However the play did open under heavy security. A number of things struck me. Firstly the play is really the psychiatrists struggle about accepting faith, rather than either of the nuns. The church actually comes off as quite reasonable. And the finale is really about the psychiatrist questioning her own atheism; which I think is more proreligion than anti.

As for showing ‘ nuns in a bad light’, the beautiful voice of Avanti Nagra who plays the title role, does exactly the opposite. Agnes comes across as devout and passionate in her love for Christ.

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