In an effort to promote collective creation between France and India, students, artists, and intellectuals from West Bengal and India are invited to spend three days at Open Air Theatre (OAT) in Jadavpur University with French stage director Ariane Mnouchkine and French-Santhal-Bengali organisation Trimukhi Platform.

In the evenings, participants attend a double theatre performance. The first (Essay on Seasonal Variation in Santhal Society) awakens spectators’ thoughts and senses. The second (Try Me Under Water) invites the audience to go deeper in the contemplation and even loose ground. The nocturnal wandering at JU campus concludes with a multi-track video projection reflected on the water.

During the day, participants join Ariane Mnouchkine and Trimukhi Platform in creating a free and friendly discussion space which encourages questions about theatre today, such as this one: If theatre has stopped representing and communicating, how does one speak about what happens on stage? Or that one: How do we do the theatre we do?

The three days event logic is concrete and practical: a moment here with Trimukhi Platform and a moment there with Ariane Mnouchkine, then a moment here again, then a moment there again until finally opening a creative dialogue. This festivity of today theatre diversity – and by hence huge spectrum of possibilities – is part of Bonjour India, a four-month-long celebration of Indo-French innovation, creativity and partnership.