Should Opus be oppressed?

Can you remember Rabindranath Tagore's ear rubbing law in 'Land of cards'?Is it creating a hitch in your ear?why am I telling this? Now,listen if you are a art practitioner and do your job responsibly, you have to aware of that.I think you know,that a quiet and humble theater has always been a friend of the state apparatus, but as soon as it waxed restlessness it became the enemy and the critic of the state.If you do a theater for the society, you have to endure this punishment in this unfortunate country where the judge of art is the very guards of the state. 'Surendra Binodini' by Dakshinaranjan Chattopadhyay,'Cha Kar Darpan' by Upendranath Das, Amritlal Basu's 'Gaikwad Darpan', 'Sati Ki Kalankini' or 'Sirajdaula' by Girish Chandra Ghosh, Bhupen Bandyopadhyay's 'Village swadeshikata' everyone had to suffer this.The theater had to face the red eyes of the state in this unfortunate province, but what about the world?

Now,If we look at the European countries, we can witness Roma rola also inevitably became the eyesore of the ruler by doing a theater of human liberation.In a country even like France, true artist has to stay behind a veil of Censorship.Censorship has historically served the interests of the church and the state since the past.Interference in the theater, for whatever reason, is always a political move.Just as the Catholic Church in medieval England dominated the mystery drama,like that in 1581 the Master of the Rebels was ordered to destroy the art, which was detrimental to the state. Even while Shakespeare was in London, censorship was still on the rise.Yet it has not been easy to capture a genius like Shakespeare by state's protocol.Though it reflected its weight in its own way.

Just as' Dr. Faustus' was trapped in censorship, so Ben Johnson's 'Ice of Dog', Shakespeare's 'Richard II', Thomas Middleton's 'Game of Chess' were the victims of state vigilance.In France, Luis XIII sought to lift censorship, but the kingsmen denied.According to them the theater must be held in the fist of state.World-famous satirical play 'Tartuffe' was banned for five years in his time.Cultured minded British even captured the freedom of theater for more than 231 years with Theater Regulation Act in his own land.Aleksandar Duma's 'La Dame aux Camelias',

Ibson's 'Ghosts',Tolstoy's 'Power of Darkness', Barnardshaw's 'Mrs Warren's Profession',Pushkin's 'Boris Godunov' also suffered the same.After all we feel abashed when we hear Pirandolla's 'Six characters in search of an author', John Osborne's 'A patriot for me'  took their directors' life in stake.When Europe is so conservative,can you imagine what did happen to Brazil, Chile, Argentina in the turbulent environment of South America?

It is not the State, that always wanted to strangle the language of theater,although art practitioners who welcomed the revolutionary role of theater in educating the masses after the French Revolution,dropped the anti-republican word like 'Duke','Baron','Count' from their play to make the theater more republican.Milan Kundera and Pavel Kohut's plays were similarly banned in Czechoslovakia.Although the US government did not intervene directly,they cut off the funding only.

However, Guys in the theater did not stop fighting against all types of intervention.'Stage Society of England', 'Theater Arts Club' of London, 'Cambridge Festival Theater' stops government intervention in theater with loud voice.

But here a question arises.How will the theater reach to the people if there is a direct fear to be banned?Utpal Dutta reminds us of the 'Mirror' but Shakespeare never said that the mirror of life which theater reflecte would be smooth for ever.Thoigh in Indian mythology we see Yudhisthira tells Sanjay to bow down to those who performs drama in Hastinapur.Even in the sixth century, Shudrak's 'Mrichakatikam' was honored with all the political hints as Visakhadatta's 'Mudrarakkhasa' got proper homage for its worth in the ninth century. In our land of diversion a drama like 'Chaturvani' which is about physical sexuality can served with proper respect, where the rest of the world are seeking its fault in formation ,even now.

Now we can ask,Why should we search the prevailing statement of failure throughout history? Theater is not just about expressing opinions,it is human storm.Can a storm be stopped?Then what is our flutter?Keep it in mind clearly, that the  respect of the theater is the respect of the pricks. So save the theater to save the morality but not through the use of force, only through dialogue.