With new writers, performance spaces, repertory companies and festivals, Quasar Thakore Padamsee sees exciting times ahead for Indian theatre
Every so often it is good to reflect on one’s profession, to see where it has come from, where it is headed. World Theatre Day is such an occasion.
The arts at large and theatre in particular are on the rise in India. There are more plays, more opportunities, more spaces and more activities than ever before. Theatre is still not the occupation it is in the West, nor does it receive the acclaim or subsidies that other countries have for the “mother of all performing arts”; but that may be where its strength lies. Theatre in India relies on the enterprise of the individual.
The qualitative nature of the medium does not seem in step with the “eyeballs and footfalls” mantra of modern marketers, so crowd-funding has replaced traditional fundraising. Theatre-lovers are contributing in active ways to support the initiatives they believe in. They are no longer just an audience, they are stakeholders.
For theatre-makers, it is still difficult to make ends meet. Most have worked out a way to subsidise their existence as theatre-wallahs. But the intensity and volume of the work clashes with the financial realities.
Over the last decade, more full-fledged theatre companies have come up than ever before. Tadpole Repertory in Delhi, Tin Can in Kolkata, Perch in Chennai, Aasakta in Pune and AKvarious in Mumbai all testify to the new energy.
As for writers, finally our theatre community has emerged from the giant shadows cast by Girish Karnad, Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sircar and Vijay Tendulkar. A crop of new writers is telling new stories to new audiences, and best of all, in a new way. Ramu Ramanathan, Makrand Deshpande, Manav Kaul, Purva Naresh, Ram Ganesh Kamatham, Anuvab Pal, Anupama Chandrasekhar, Neel Chaudhuri, the list goes on.
Artistically there have been great innovations. “Drawing room sets” have been replaced by detailed mise-en-scène. The concept of a “straight play” is now not so common, since plays draw from Kalaripayattu, contemporary dance, folk music, etc. Language lines are blurring as more plays are multi-lingual. Content-wise, no longer is new urban theatre in English and Hindi set around the sofa or in the local coffee shop — it is venturing out into the villages, marking a shift from the euphoria of being able to drink a cappuccino to understanding the real cost of liberalisation.
New theatre spaces have emerged. Lady Andal in Chennai with its black flooring and excellent lighting grid is among the best prosceniums in the country, Jagriti in Bangalore is wonderfully intimate, Weavers’ small gallery-like studio space in Kolkata is ideal for offbeat work. Even non-theatre spaces are being converted — Kyra in Bangalore specialises in supper theatre; Mumbai’s Comedy Store also hosts plays; Blue Frog, the music venue, often opens its doors to staged performances; and that’s not including the various art galleries that have been conscripted.
And the new initiatives: the Hindu Metroplus Festival is the largest touring festival in the country. Bareilly hosts an annual Hindi theatre festival, Kolkata boasts three corporate-backed theatre festivals. Even the Indian High Commission in Muscat, Oman, takes plays from the motherland to entertain expat audiences. In Mumbai, from September to February there is a festival every month. Sanjna Kapoor’s theatre company Junoon demands “performance spaces” in every new township, and Thespo seems to go from strength to strength. In training, too, new territory is being charted — Mumbai University offers a master’s degree in theatre arts, Theatre Professionals has actor training workshops, FLAMES in Pune includes a drama programme, and the arrival of the International Baccalaureate means that more schoolchildren are exposed to theatre.
So, all in all, this is quite an exciting era for theatre. Hopefully all this activity is only the tip of the iceberg — and when and if the Titanic of recession comes, I hope we are able to sink it!
