Renowned British theatre director Daniele Bye, whose play "Going Viral" got a standing ovation in Delhi and Kolkata, describes himself as a writer-performer, or to be more precise a practitioner of story telling cum acting, a genre which is not very familiar in India.
"Here it is relatively less known and less recognized. But in the UK there is a whole lot of people who are called writer-performers," Daniele told PTI prior to his performance organised by the British Council here last Sunday.
Daniele says he is aware of India having a rich tradition of story-telling, but here, he points out, the influence of folk story is predominant.
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"In India, solo art performances are very different, largely drawing on folk tales over the years and which needs to be tapped by visiting story-tellers from other lands like me. I believe in direct and permanent connection between the performer and the audience.
"The English audience is more reserved and it tends to be smaller in size too. In Kolkata, people are seen reacting more to certain situations of my new work 'Going Viral' than in my homeland," Danielle, whose presentation got rave reviews in the prestigious Edinburgh festival, says.
His next solo production Safe House was again a social satire to be first staged in next August.
In "Going Viral", which won the Scotsman Fringe First Award in 2015, the artiste is explaining how "our connected world makes us all the more vulnerable and all the more human."
The play has earlier been staged in Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru as part of 30-city tour.
He regrets that he could not take his work to the semi-urban, rural audience for whom story-telling art solely means narration of traditional folk tales.
"I believe with the merger between the modern story-telling craft in England, which is being practised by him and others like Chris God, and typical Indian traditional story-telling which thrives among villagers - we can reach out to more people in India," he signed off.
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