Theatre and arts festival in Bengaluru puts the spotlight on equality

The second edition of the biannual theatre fest EQUAL — Voices for a Common Humanity, was held in Bengaluru over the weekend, which saw. theatrepersons, activists, poets, musicians and artists in attendance. While plays like Freedom Begum, Bhagi Hui Ladkiyan and Aurat! Aurat!! Aurat were the highlights of the fest, theatre aficionados were also treated to music and dance performances, as well as panel discussions on love, war, gender, desire, identity, and more.
Speaking about participating in the event, A Mangai, director of Freedom Begum, a multilingual play on the transgender community, shares, “I am extremely happy to have participated in the festival. We need to create more spaces like this to initiate discussions on vital topics like equality, dignity and justice. Festivals like this are, therefore, vital to take discussions about equality forward.” Mangai rues that even though the play had a good turnout, not many were from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Artiste Surjit Nongmeikapam from Manipur who performed the dance piece Nerves, says that such festivals help bring people together and promotes the understanding of humanity. “We must all work together and talk about how we can make the world a more peaceful place.” He cites how members members of the audience spoke to him after the performance about the differences between life in a metro, compared to the remote areas depicted in the piece. Surjit adds, “Discussions like these help us understand how we, as human beings, can support one another.”