ABSTRACT
Jana Sanskriti, founded in 1985 by Sanjoy Ganguly, is one of the best-known, and probably the largest and longest-lasting, Theatre of the Oppressed operations in the world. Jana Sanskriti means ‘the people’s culture’. Specifically, its remit is to create theatre with the people – mostly rural agricultural communities in West Bengal, India – as a means to address political, social and community issues in their everyday lives. In a typical year, Jana Sanskriti teams deliver approximately 100 performances every month to around 20,000 spectators, who are not charged admission. It is a theatre culture, a way of seeing and doing which touches many aspects of people’s lives. Jana Sanskriti was initially part of another social movement, West Bengal Agricultural Workers’ Union.
