A poet is accused of inciting violence. A singer goes on a hunger strike behind bars. A trial waiting to start. A self-exiled comrade travels across 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 Anuj Deshpande, Jigisha Bhattacharya
Directed by Anuj Deshpande
Produced by Brooklyn Boukather
Thank you for allowing artists to take creative risks, the world needs it now more than ever.
Programmed artist
