Theatre

Variety Fair

Prithvi festival, 2009, celebrated the universal language of theatre Kavitha Rao Suguna Sridhar Sridhar/Thayil’s “The Flying Wallas: Opera Noir” was one of many unlikely combinations at this year’s Prithvi festival

84 The Caravan, December 2009 bald woman in a pink tutu one of many unlikely combinations Prithvi since 1993. Some might singing opera and swinging at this year’s Prithvi festival. Opera even say she’s been running theatre A from an imaginary trapeze. A crossed with poetry and noir isn’t in . “There’s some extraor- bald man in a sharp white suit recit- regular theatre. But it worked, for dinary theatre happening in extra- ing poetry on the meaning of life the most part. The classically ordinary places. We have veteran and death. A murder mystery with a trained Suman Sridhar’s surreal, groups such as Naya Theatre from tough broad and a deadpan ghost beautiful voice and expressive face Chhattisgarh, Ninasam from straight out of a Raymond Chandler made a perfect foil for poet Jeet village in , novel. Welcome to Sridhar/Thayil’s Thayil’s sardonic stage presence. Nirman Kala Manch from Patna, “The Flying Wallas: Opera Noir”, Thayil called it “street corner opera and Adishakti from Pondicherry. that tells a story and entertains”. We also have newcomers such as That it did. Many of the audience Sridhar/Thayil, Ranan and Theatre said they were dreading two hours Roots and Wings”. “No theatre of incomprehensible Italian opera, group is like another,” said Sameera but ended up being pleasantly Iyengar, co-director of the festival. entertained. In one scene, Sridhar, “This is meant to give you a taste of annoyed at being stalked by the what’s out there.” pesky ghost, warbles, “What the This year’s fest also featured sev- fuck??” as the audience erupted into eral languages: “Charandas Chor” in laughter. “We call it noir because Chhattisgarhi, the classic Bhojpuri the opera uses a voiceover reminis- play “Bidesia” from the iconic cent of American noir movies of the Nirman Kala Manch, three Kannada 40s and 50s,” said Thayil, “but it’s plays from the rural Ninasam group, also noir in the sense of non-white. and even a Malayalam Japanese It’s not pretentious, pseudo intellec- production (with English subtitles) tual stuff; it’s for everyone.” from the Malayali group Theatre Was it really theatre though, Roots and Wings. “I don’t think lan- asked some viewers? “Call it perfor- guage is an issue,” says Kapoor, mance, poetry, poverty, prayer,” “Theatre is a universal language”. deadpans Thayil. “I call it work.” This year, Prithvi also had its The performance also felt a bit unre- first fundraiser, honouring the late solved for some of the audience, ’s Naya Theatre group, who were left wondering who killed with proceeds from the sale of mem- whom, and why? But then it’s orabilia going to help veteran always a good thing to leave wanting actors. “We are honouring them as more. “We do plan to make it a a mark of gratitude for their years in longer piece,” said Thayil. “The the theatre, not as a charity drive,” shows at Prithvi were crucial said Iyengar. because they showed us the possi- The festival began with bilities for Indian opera.” “Charandas Chor”, Tanvir’s enduring Inventive combinations domi- creation. The play was banned in nated this year’s Prithvi festival, Chhatisgarh this year, though the now in its 26th year. The theme was ban was lifted shortly afterwards, “Theatres of ”, with eight because it apparently offended peo- groups from across the country per- ple of the Satnami sect, around forming everything from opera to whom the play is based. Charandas, folk theatre. a cunning yet lovable thief takes four “Our aim this year was to show vows in jest, one of which is to always Indian theatre in all its variety and tell the truth. He refuses to break his diversity,” said festival director vows despite orders from the tyran- Sanjna Kapoor. Kapoor, the daugh- nical queen, a subtle metaphor for ter of actors and the conflict between poor but honest Jennifer Kendall, and the grand- villagers and brutal government. daughter of theatre founder Eventually, he is put to death by the , has been running queen and her soldiers.

The Caravan, December 2009 85 The Naya Theatre’s actors per- brought four Kannada plays to atre. “I think it’s a misconception formed with such gusto and joyous- Prithvi, one based on the Merchant that classical dance has to be pret- ness that they overcame the lan- of Venice, one a traditional ty,” said Iyengar, who also played guage barrier. Chaitram Yadav, Yakshagana dance drama, and two the role of Equus, the mythical who played Charandas, dominated contemporary plays. horse. “It has to be beautiful, but it the show with his vivid performance ‘I am usually a critic of festivals needn’t be pretty. So my challenge as the lovable rogue yet man of because they turn plays into com- was to express ugly emotions with integrity. The characters were modities and export them without classical dance in a beautiful way.” familiar to every Indian: the incom- regard to their roots,” said As the disturbed teenager Alan, petent policeman, the callous politi- Ninasam’s director KV Akshara, 25-year-old Shadab Kamal com- cian, the wily guru, the village “but Prithvi manages to bring plays manded the stage like a seasoned drunk. Much of the storyline was from all over India while keeping actor. Kamal was a gauche and narrated by the chorus or nacha, an the context they are rooted in. For a sullen teenager one moment, a pas- integral part of Chhattisgarhi the- very urban theatre, it displays extra- sionate and powerful worshipper atre. ordinary sensitivity to rural art the next. The sequence where Audience reactions, though, were forms.” Ninasam Tirugata ( which Kamal jubilantly rides Equus was mixed. Some of the younger mem- means travelling around in pure theatre, combining imagery, bers of the audience found it diffi- Kannada) is one of Indian theatre’s sound, and movement in the most cult to relate to the play, especially amazing success stories, touring sublime way. At Prithvi theatre, the the tragic scenes where Charandas across Karnataka for four months a game cast did back-to back-perfor- defies the queen. “It’s good to see year, often doing two shows a day, mances. “It’s a 2.5 hour perfor- plays from all over, but I am not for gatherings of about 400 at a mance, and it really takes it out of sure the theme of this play, especial- time. Among the plays they take to you. I had a half-hour break, and ly the vows to always tell the truth, rural audiences are Shakespeare, then I had to get up and do it again,” makes sense to a Mumbai audience. Brecht and Moliere, along with tales said Kamal. “But performing at I think this play was written for a from the Ramayana and the Prithvi gives you a great feeling and rural audience,” said student Shikha . “I think there are the audience just takes you along. Lakhanpal. “The song style narra- very minor differences between You want to really go for it.” tion was very difficult to follow, and rural and urban audiences,” said Unfortunately, the supporting it took me a while to understand it Akshara. cast weren’t quite as good. Daminee and get into the play. I don’t think Mukherjee was too ineffectual—and most people in Mumbai can follow erhaps the most ambitious yet often inaudible—to be convincing as Chhattisgarhi and Bhojpuri,” said satisfying play of the festival the authoritative psychiatrist who another young viewer in a Metallica Pwas the Kolkata based dance tries to heal Alan. The supporting t-shirt. group Ranan’s “Equus”. Peter cast’s heavy Bengali accents were “These days people are in a Shaffer’s controversial play revolves also distracting at times. But it’s hurry,” said Kapoor wryly, “They around 17-year-old Alan Strang, a hard to criticise such a brave ven- want to see plays that they can boy with a bizarre obsession for ture, especially since Iyengar had understand right away, rather than horses who blinds six of them in a fit the difficult task of transforming just letting themselves feel the of rage. The play explores the dancers into actors and actors into whole experience, even letting it themes of passion, worship, religion dancers. “It was very difficult to simmer overnight maybe.” “There and insanity. Through a series of find English speaking dancers in will always be people who are encounters between Alan and his Kolkata who were willing to push unhappy, who will say that the plays shrink, Shaffer gets the audience to the boundaries of classical dance, are too experimental or too hard to question what is normal, and what and who could act too. These understand”, said Quasar Thakore- is not? Is it better to lead a safe, dull dancers have been going to speech Padamsee, director and co-founder life or a dangerous, passionate one? training for 1.5 years, and I think of Q Theatre Productions (QTP). Ranan’s production had just the they have improved hugely. There is “This year’s theme is a bit of a mish- right dose of innovation, leaving still a long way to go; it’s a work-in- mash, but on the plus side you have Shaffer’s riveting script intact. progress,” said Iyengar. iconic theatre troupes from far away Director and dancer Vikram Iyengar Still, with all the variety on offer like Nirman Kala Manch, which drew on his years of training in this year, many shows went half- haven’t often been seen in kathak. His raw, powerful choreog- empty. The intimate 200-seat space Mumbai”. raphy had dancers playing horses, of Prithvi Theatre was full, as it usu- Another rural troupe, Ninasam, seamlessly weaving dance and the- ally is, with its regular crowd of

86 The Caravan, December 2009 committed theatre fans. But the Karnataka Sangha, an alternative venue in central Mumbai with 750 seats, had barely 60-70 people on most days. Shows at the open air Horniman Circle theatre in South Mumbai were cancelled because of unexpected heavy rains, further affecting turnout.

inding spaces for theatre in a city where distances are vast Fand public spaces limited is one of Prithvi’s biggest challenges. “Prithvi has the café, children’s workshops, poetry slams and film shows, all of which attract as many patrons as the theatre”, said Iyengar. “The problem is in finding other spaces that we can make equally inviting. That takes time.” Given the almost non-existent interest from government and most corporates, it’s amazing that the fes- tival has continued all these years. “This year for the first time we have government support, but not fund- ing,” said Kapoor. “For our shows in Horniman Circle (a government owned park) we have always had to get licences and go through bureau- cracy. This year, the Directorate of Cultural Affairs has partnered with us so we don’t have to pay licence fees or jump through those hoops.”

But Prithvi still gets no funds Prithvi Theatre from the government. “On Prithvi’s “Equus” explores the themes of passion, worship, religion and insanity 25th anniversary a few years ago, I approached the Ministry of Culture For the past six years, Prithvi has expensive for small theatre groups, in Delhi. I didn’t want any money, also been getting aid from HIVOS, a charging Rs 10,000 a night or 50 just acknowledgement of the kind of Dutch foundation, which is helping percent of the profits, whichever is work we are doing. I was told by an Prithvi come up with a sustainable more. That’s huge for small theatre inner source that they discussed my financial plan to fund future costs. groups like ours. Prithvi is the only proposal, then they said ‘Oh well, “It’s nowhere near what we need,” venue that subsidises spaces and she’s from a rich family, so we don’t said Kapoor, “But it has helped works with actors to pay what they need to give her any money,’” says immensely in getting a core team of can afford. Every other hall is only Kapoor incredulously”. “It’s not just people to handle the festival, so I interested in money. And everyone money we want,” added Iyengar. don’t have to do everything”. knows there’s no money in theatre.” “It’s the fact that theatre is just not Prithvi remains the only viable So little money, in fact, that tal- valued. Theatre in India has sur- venue in Mumbai for theatre groups ented theatre artists are defecting to vived doggedly in spite of govern- that don’t do commercial theatre. television in droves. “There’s an ment policy, not because of it.” Says Thakore-Padamsee, whose amazing crop of talented young Currently, the festival is funded QTP group works mainly to pro- actors, scriptwriters and technicians mostly by donations from corporate mote youth theatre, “The NCPA and in Mumbai, but we are going to lose sponsors, notably the Tata Group. other auditoriums are hugely them to film and television if we

The Caravan, December 2009 87 With no government aid, Prithvi, and the theatre companies it fosters, have to count on sponsors. “What we should be doing is to develop a corpus fund, organise events, and broaden our reach. What we are doing is running around looking for sponsors. And it’s getting harder and harder,” said Kapoor. So Prithvi plows a lonely furrow. “In some ways, Prithvi is a failure,” said Kapoor, who appears to be her own harshest critic. “We set out to establish regular, professional the- atre. If being professional means finding people with passion, then we have succeeded. But if being professional means enabling people

Prithvi Theatre to live off their earnings in theatre The classic Bhojpuri play “Bidesia” from the iconic Nirman Kala Manch and improving quality, we have failed. We would like to be choosier about quality. But since we are the only theatre in Mumbai, we need to provide a platform for everyone so they can get better. ” But Prithvi, and other theatre groups, are not giving up that easily. Currently, Kapoor is working on a new iniative called the India Theatre Forum, along with other groups, which will help bring theatre groups across India together to pool resources from props to knowledge. “There will be a website and a news letter,” said Kapoor. “We are look- ing into a social security programme

Prithvi Theatre for veteran actors. We are also “Charandas Chor” is about a thief who takes four vows in jest, one of which is to always tell the truth drafting a best practice manual for theatre groups, which will deal with can’t do something about it,” said groups a year, but only have room for issues such as how to adapt scripts.” Kapoor. “I am ashamed to say I pay my about 30 groups, and we can only stage “There’s all this talk about mak- actors only Rs 300-500 per show, 500 shows a year,” added Kapoor. ing Mumbai a world class city,” said because I can’t afford any more,” What little government support Iyengar, passionately,” “Every admitted Thakore-Padamsee. “Many there is goes to a certain kind of play, world class city—New York, of my best actors work all day in televi- usually traditional Marathi plays. London, Paris, Hong Kong—has a sion to pay the bills, then do a bit of “The government gives a lot of finan- budget for culture. Singapore has theatre in their spare time, which cial support to Marathi plays espe- poured huge amounts of money leaves us very little time to rehearse.” cially the folk and traditional kind, into creating performance spaces, It’s not just the money,” said Iyengar. but what about other kinds of the- but they didn’t have any theatre “If you are a theatre actor, you may be atre, in other languages? Mumbai is artistes to perform there, so they able to perform only twice a year a city of many languages, after all,” had to import them. We have so because there are no spaces. Why said Kapoor. “Many theatres charge much talent—thousands of years would you become a theatre actor if more for Hindi and English plays worth of performing talent—and no you can’t act more than twice a year?” than Marathi plays. This is discrimi- space for them to perform. We are approached by over 70 theatre nation pure and simple.” Ironical, isn’t it?” 

88 The Caravan, December 2009