Mandala Theatre is going to have another special show of its widely admired play ‘WOUNDS OF WAR 2.0’ on Wednesday, 6th November 2023 to commemorate the 17 years of Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed on 21 November 2006 between the Government of Nepal and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), ending the war, promised to end impunity and to establish a TRC to address human rights violations committed during the conflict. The CPA formally made commitments to make the whereabouts of the ‘forcefully disappeared’ public within 60 days, and to “investigate the truth about people seriously violating human rights and those involved in crimes against humanity.” Sadly, 17 years later today victims and their families continue to wait to hear the news of their loved ones and the investigation of truths is mired under a sham process.
Wounds of War 2.0 revolves around the consequences of unresolved issues of forceful disappearance, sexual violence, dismemberment, displacement in the ten-year long armed conflict in Nepal. In the hypothesis of ‘New & Prosperous Nepal’, the physical and psycho-social wounds have been faded away. This play does not intend to traumatize the survivors or victims, rather to create a realization that the wounds still exist. This play has been created by the graduates of first batch of Mandala Drama School – Theatre for Social Change, Conflict Transformation and Peace-building.‘Wounds of War 2.0’ is a neo-version of the play ‘Wounds of War’ created by the same team during the schooling. The play was staged at the prestigious Academic Thespians Theatre Festival organized by University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka at Panibharatha Theatre on 24th July 2023 and was staged regularly at Mandala Studio during the first week of August for regular audiences. Additionally, the play was staged in Belbari, Morang with Mandala’s mobile theatre bus Junkiri as part of Memory Mobile Theatre Tour 2023, organized jointly by Mandala Theatre-Nepal and Advocacy Forum Nepal with the support of Kurvey Wustrow.
Play Synopsis:
A river flowing with its melody suddenly stops and observes herself. She finds herself deviated, polluted and dis-colored. She returns back to find the history of her filth, where she has an encounter with the survivors of the ten years long violent armed conflict of Nepal (Moist Insurgency) who once were victims of forceful disappearance, sexual violence, displacement, and physical torture. On the other hand, the shameless ruling power, politicizing these issues, announces the establishment of peace in the in the country.
