A poet is accused of inciting violence. A singer goes on a hunger strike behind bars. A trial waiting to start. A long-lost friend travels time to excavate the meanings of freedom. An entire country erupts against a repressive law. It could be 1919. It could be today.
Drawing from prison writings, letters, court statements, poetry, songs and moving images, the performance asks how freedom is imagined under constraint, and how captivity–whether we want it or not, continues to shape the psychic and political landscapes of those of us who consider ourselves free. While the performance focuses on the lives, and dreams of such prisoners from India, it places them in conversation with prisoners across space and time for whom freedom has been most violently withheld, to quietly turn the gaze back towards free selves.
Based on the writings of Prisoners of Conscience
Written by Jigisha Bhattacharya, Anuj Deshpande
Directed by Anuj Deshpande
Produced by Brooklyn Boukather
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