The Royal Court Theatre in London has apologised to the Tibetan community after it cancelled a play based on the real stories of Tibetans in India under Chinese pressure. The theatre has now committed at producing the Tibet play at a later date, which is suggested as, probably in the Spring of 2019.
“The Royal Court Theatre in London has apologised for cancelling a play by Bengaluru-based playwright-director Abhishek Majumdar, and decided to stage it in “the spring of 2019”. Titled Pah-La, the play is based on real stories, documents, pictures and biographies of people of Tibet.” said the report in the Indian Express.
Abhishek had earlier took to the social media to vent out his disappointment at the decision of the Royal Court Theatre in initially postponing his play and later withdrawing from playing his play, citing ‘financial problems’. He has reported that the reality was pressure from China in the theatre’s decision.
“It was supposed to open on 4th October 2017, at the Royal Court Theatre, in London, with its poster printed and rehearsals fixed, when the British Council China pressurised the theatre to withdraw it from opening because of a program in China that they were running together.” he told on Facebook on January 22 this year.
According to the report, the play had been developed over a period of three years and it also quoted the playwright Abhishek Majumdar as recalling a personal advice from His Holiness the Dalai Lama as saying, “Write it but be prepared for a lot of resistance. Now I know what it means” while writing the play.
The Royal Court Theatre said in a statement that it “apologises to the Tibetan community for having had to postpone and subsequently withdraw Pah-la for financial reasons earlier this year” and assured that it “always seeks to protect and not to silence any voice. In an international context this can sometimes be more complex across communities. The Royal Court is committed to protecting free speech sometimes within difficult situations. We are committed to our ongoing work with Chinese writers and we intend to place all voices on our stages.”
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