Sadananda Singh’s team performs Naughty Boy in South Korea and (below) the mime artiste

Guwahati, Nov. 20: When pain grows too excruciating to bear, silence screams louder than words, feels mime artiste Y. Sadananda Singh.

So, as an act of catharsis, he has decided to trek around the globe with a play depicting the plight of Manipuri women, caught between security forces and militants.

Back from a successful trip to South Korea, where he participated at the 18th Chuncheon International Mime Festival, Sadananda Singh is brainstorming on his new play, which will weave together real-life stories of Thangjam Manorama, A. Hanjaobi and Irom Sharmila — all faces of military oppression.

He will be ready to stage the yet-to-be-named play early next year.

Sadananda Singh, who is a senior fellow in mime in the Union department of culture, has decided to stage the play across the country, in the UK and the US. His mime plays, Cheitheng, My Obedient Doll and Naughty Boy have received wide acclaim at the 18th Chuncheon International Mime Festival held earlier this year.

“Like Th. Manorama, A. Hanjaobi and Irom Sharmila, almost everyday the women of our state are being victimised either by the rebel groups or the security forces. My next play will be an attempt not only to make my own countrymen but also the audience abroad aware about the harsh realities of Manipur,” Sadananda Singh told The Telegraph in Guwahati during a recent visit.

Th. Manorama and A. Hanjaobi were victims of army atrocities while Irom Sharmila is on a fast-unto-death for the past six years demanding repeal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act. “Since I am a native of Manipur, I have seen these incidents with my own eyes. That’s why this subject is very close to my heart and I want to give it my best shot,” said Sadananda Singh, who has learnt the tricks of the trade from mime artiste Jetty Roel of Belgium and Niranjan Goswami of Indian Mime Theatre, Calcutta, in the early eighties.

The style of presentation of the play will be “absurd like a poem, not like prose”.

He has already got in touch with non-resident Indians from Manipur in different parts of the world to stage the play.

Sadananda Singh is the director of Kanglei Mime Theatre Repertory located at Imphal. The repertory run by him was established 1987 and it has 12 regular and five casual members.