Unsupported by the government or the corporate sector, three student theatre groups in the city are at the forefront of dramatic innovation.
RANAN
A group of youngsters formed Ranan in 2004, feeling the need to demystify classical dance forms and reach out to larger audiences. Short for anuranan — meaning “resonance” — Ranan experiments with “merging Kathak and theatre, adding realism to the dance form,” says Vikram Ayangar, member of Ranan’s core group and a trained classical dancer with a degree in performing arts from the University of Wales, UK.
The company has hosted several successful shows all over India, from Kerala to Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jodhpur, Jamshedpur and, of course, at home in Bengal. Its plays — Crossing, Nagamandala and Equus — have been performed at theatre festivals at the National School of Drama, New Delhi, and Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai. “We have received overwhelming response from the public, but not much in terms of monetary support,” says Ayangar. He believes that people must take performing arts seriously and give performers their due dignity. “We get calls from organisers to perform for as little as Rs 5,000 which would barely cover the transport cost,” he says.
Ranan, however, has survived the odds. Today, it has over a dozen members in their early twenties, experimenting with classical dance forms and contemporary theatre.
Besides theatre and dance productions, Ranan also runs Brindar, a kathak school, and partners various organisations on interactive sessions, workshops and radio programmes.
STAGEFRIGHT
Stagefright — the theatre group of Presidency University — was formed by a group of friends who realised the need for creative arts in a college that is mostly known for its political turmoil.
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“The name Stagefright is more of a private joke because no member has ever suffered from it. For us, the workshops are as important as the performances because we believe in losing our inhibitions off and on stage,” says Sriyanka Ray, the group’s president. Their first performance, a satirical street play, began like a flash mob in the college canteen. “No one knew about it till we pretended to start a fight and begin the performance,” adds Ray.
Stagefright has performed its play 2PR at the Gyan Manch auditorium as part of the Porjaash theatre festival, organised by student theatre group Hypokrites, and at Rangmanch — the theatre competition at IIT Kharagpur’s Springfest — where it won the Best Technical Award.
Their plans for Stagefright include not just plays but also experimenting with Internet and short films, flash mobs, online blogs and the like. “We plan to raise funds through ticket sales and based on the response, attract corporate sponsors,” says Ray.
“We believe that the city is ready for experiments — a break away from traditional scripted plays. Finances will be a problem and so will negative criticism from the old-school, but we are ready to begin an independent movement that involves not just theatre but art itself,” declares Ray.
LOK
Lok was formed on January 3, 2010 at the Gyan Manch by students from eminent city colleges — St Xavier’s, Jadavpur University, Presidency and Loreto College. It claims to be the only national youth-run, creative arts group and has won accolades in national youth theatre festivals all over. It was runners-up at Abhinaya theatre festival in Bangalore, and won acclaim at the Connecting Youth Organisations Nationwide jamboree in Shillong, the Atelier Youth Week and Asmita in Delhi, and at Project Yuva, a festival held in several cities.
“Lok started as an attempt to bring our passion for theatre into the public,” says Aditya Sengupta. “Money is a constraint as we have been bearing a large chunk of our production expenses from our pockets,” adds Sengupta.
Lok today has 20 members, all students between the ages of 19 and 25. They are now working on their next performance which will be in August at Khoj, the experimental arts collective. It will be a theatrical installation about the lives of four youth in the four metro cities.
