In the Santal village of Borotalpada, West Bengal, India, Trimukhi Platform in co-production with the Mexican National Council for Arts and Culture and in collaboration with Proyecto 3 (Mexico), Teatro Ojo (Mexico) and Modern Academy of Continuing Education (Kolkata) organised on 25th February 2012 the Fifth Night of Theatre: a night long program with stage works directed by artists from India, France and Mexico. Inviting established stage directors to build link with “unappreciated” art practices aims to give a proof that the capacity of inventing aesthetic forms pertains to all. The Night of Theatre n°5 started at 5 pm with the arriving of the bus bringing 21 guests from Kolkata. At 6 pm, after a Santhal welcome ceremony and tea, the audience, following a Santhal dance procession discovered the photographies exhibited in the rooms of the Cultural Centre in construction. Around 6:30 pm, the theatre presentations began, at first near by the lake, then in the middle of a narrow path that leads towards the Centre and finally in the Cultural Centre itself. In between each stage work, Mahato tribal dances were performed. Around midnight, diner was served in the courtyard of the Cultural Centre. The rest of the Night was spent in talks, dances, walking around the star lit landscape. In the early morning, villagers came back for a second meal. This time the children took the initiative of serving the food and then they danced again. Little more than 500 peoples assisted the events, two third of them from Borotalpada village.  Two stage works were specially prepared for the event and rehearsed with Borotalpada villagers during the weeks preceding the festival: Guignol’s dol and I saw the world resting within itself.

 TRIMUKHI CULTURAL CENTRE • 25th February 2012

 PRESENTED BY Trimukhi Platform IN COLLABORATION WITH Teatro Ojo (Mexico) • Proyecto 3 (Mexico) • MACE (India) AND THE SUPPORT OF Mexican National Council for Arts and Culture (FONCA – CONACULTA) 

Initially, the Night of Theatre (Noche de Teatro) was a festival that the Proyecto 3 group, under the direction of Jean-Frédéric Chevallier, organised in Mexico in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009. The set-up was a festive and convivial one. Between each show (dance, theatre, performance), a music concert was organised outside the hall so the audience could take some rest, speak together and relax attention.

Now, in collaboration with Proyecto 3, Teatro Ojo and Modern Academy of Continuing Education and in co-production with the Mexican Council for Arts and Culture, the Fifth Night of Theatre is taking place in the Santal village of Borotalpada, far away from Kolkata, where Trimukhi Platform has been building a Cultural Centre together with the villagers. The Night of Theatre is the joyful moment inaugurating this rural “Cultural Centre” – quite far from urban “centres of culture”. French (Marc Hatzfeld, Jean-Frédéric Chevallier), Mexican (Hector Bourges, Alejandro Orozco), Bengali (Subhadeep Guha, Arka Mukhopadhyay) and Adivashi (Suraj Tudu, Arup Mahato) artists have been preparing their performances in close collaboration with actors, dancers and musicians from Borotalpada and the surrounding areas.

The idea of this project is to create a centre of culture at the far periphery. A recent U.N. report underlined it: India ranks in the 134th position in terms of human development out of 187 countries. In fact, in the past 20 years the inequalities have been increasing in the sub-continent. There are those who are in the geographic centre (and at the top of the society) and there are all the others who are at the periphery (and at the bottom of the society). Usually a Cultural Platform is built in a “posh” area (or upper middle-class zone) and in a big city. Here, it is about to do exactly the opposite: to situate the Centre in a remote village with no financial resources. And to do it in such a way that those who coordinate this platform will be those who habitually do not coordinate anything – because they are peripheral people…

In Borotalpada, on one hand, there is the strong desire to keep alive cultural singularities and, on the other, there is the interest to discover other forms of practices and knowledge – for architecture or agriculture, for painting or singing, for acting or dancing, there are, at the same time, the desire to go deeper into one’s own uniqueness and the desire to be enriched by the multiplicity – one feeding the other.

SANTHAL WELCOME DANCE directed by Tibru Murmu musicians Kisun Hansda • Tibru Murmu • Kanai Hansda • Ganesh Hansda • Bosonto Soren dancers Delko Hansda • Mado Hembrom • Parmoni Murmu • Parmoni Hansda • Kajol Hansda • Parboti Hansda • Maloti Hembrom • Pani Soren • Parboti Soren • Sombari Hansda  production Trimukhi Platform

LIGHT & SIGHT coordinated by Alejandro Orozco photographies by Alejandro Orozco • Sukla Bar Chevallier • Girish Soren • Molina Hembrom • Molina Soren • Arsu Soren • Chamru and Sunita Soren • Motilal and Falguni Hansda • Dhananjoy Hansda, Dhani Hansda • Sudeshna Hembrom • Kanai Soren • Chandrai Murmu • Minu Sardar • Proshan Sardar • Paddo Ghosh • Shreya Mallick • Jean-Frédéric Chevallier • Tania Barberan production Trimukhi Platform • MACE  

GUIGNOL’S DOL  written and directed by Jean-Frédéric Chevallier in collaboration with Marc Hatzfeld translation to Bengali Sukla Bar Chevallier director assistant Girish Soren lyric singer Arjobeer Aniruddha violinist Mohan Hembrom with Falguni Hansda • Surujmoni Hansda • Molina Hembram • Parboti Hansda • Hector Bourges • Marc Hatzfeld • Kalicharam Hembrom production Trimukhi Platform • Proyecto 3

I SAW THE WORLD RESTING WITHIN ITSELF directed by Héctor Bourges in collaboration with Sukla Bar Chevallier text Octavio Paz director assistant Chandrai Murmu musicians, constructors and actors Chandrai Murmu • Chamru Soren dancers Chumki Hansda • Sumi Soren • Pini Soren • Parmoni Murmu • Joba Hansda • Chintamoni Hansda • Mati Hembrom production CONACULTA (Mexico) • Teatro Ojo(Mexico) • Trimukhi Platform 

MACBETH CABARET texts William Shakespeare • Jan Kott directed, composed and performed by Arka Mukhopadhyay • Subhadeep Guha production The Arshinagar project 

MAHATOS DANCES directed by Arup Mahato choreographer assistant Bhabotosh Mahato singers Amulya Mahato • Ketuka Mahato musicians Gurucharan Mahato • Bahadur Mahato • Bujul Mahato • Subhash Mahato dancers leader Nikhil Mahato dancers Mausumi Mahato • Protima Mahato • Puspa Mahato • Jayanti Mahato • Putul Mahato • Nilima Mahato • Pujarani Mahato production Patharbandher Sandya Pradip Jhumur Nach Dol