The Bhands are a largely illiterate community of performers scattered in isolated villages of Kashmir. They perform the “pather“ form of satirical theatre, and are known for their costumery, music and mystic powers. Since 1989, when the valley of Kashmir sank into a long, dark period of violence and terror, the Bhands have rarely performed in public. The Play is on… follows two different groups of Bhands, as they both set out for a rare public performance. One group performs on a proscenium in a state-run theatre festival in Chandigarh, while the other performs amid a crowd of villagers at the shrine of a revered Sufi saint. Both groups represent the predicament of the Bhand community, which has sustained a centuries- old tradition in the face of debilitating social and cultural changes but now finds itself marginalised under paternalistic and nationalistic cultural policies. Although perennially intimidated by the corruption and violence that prevail in Kashmir, the Bhands affirm a commitment to critical theatre and the liberating joys of performance. Witnessing daily the erosion of their way of life, the Bhands see each performance as a repetition of the same brutal fact: that they are not free to share their revolutionary spirit. But faith in Sufism has tempered their enthusiasm for satire and today they identify with the collective voices of Kashmir’s freedom [aus dem Forumprogramm]