Light, camera, little action
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Winner of the best director award in the National Theatre Festival in 1999, Anup Baral tells DIWAN SINGH BAJELI that each production is a new discovery to create a new language of theatre.
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Anup Baral .
`I NEVER repeat the form I had once used. I keep on experimenting. For me each production is a new discovery to create a new language of the theatre,' says Anup Baral, a theatre director from Nepal, who was recently in Delhi to present his play "Khuma" at the just concluded Bharat Rang Mahotsav. He is also one of the five young directors of South Asia who jointly directed the ambitious experimental work `Memories of a Legend'. Produced by Japan Foundation Performing Arts Programme 2004, this collaborative piece of theatre was featured at the Rang Mahotsav on the opening day.
Born in Pokhara, Nepal, in 1968, Anup joined the National School of Drama, Delhi, after graduating from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. Having obtained his degree from the NSD, he went back to his country and established Pratiwimba theatre group in 1990. Over the years, he has acted and directed more than 30 plays. "Of late I am devoting more time in direction," he says.
What kind of experience he had while working on `Memories of a Legend'? "It was a most challenging creative discovery. This kind of work is done for the first time in Asia. Five directors with different artistic and social background sought to project one vision of what is Asian identity. The actors were also from five different countries. For two weeks we discussed the concept, interpretation of life and conquest of Babur and about the style of acting. At one stage I was getting exasperated. I did not find my vision in the final imagery," he continues. "As a director I am not satisfied with the production but I am very much impressed with some of the scenes, the use of hand gesture. To me the most important aspect of this production is the way it is designed and the imaginative use of colours. I will use some of these elements in my future productions."
Nepali theatre
Talking about various stages of the development of contemporary Nepali theatre movement, he says the `80s and the early `90s was the most important period in the history of Nepali theatre. It was a period that witnessed the flowering of various theatrical styles. The street theatre was at the height of its popularity. Badal Sircar and Safdar Hashmi were a source of inspiration for street theatre activists who exposed the anti-people character of the monarchy.
Anup feels that his generation has not produced any significant playwright. "We mostly depend on translations of foreign plays," he says, "It is very hard to do theatre in Nepal. There is no state patronage. The Royal Nepal Repertory organises one festival in a year and produces just one play annually. Our Government did not pay us our travel expenses to participate in the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. It was the Indian Embassy in Nepal which paid our travelling expenses."
Anup is no sympathiser of the Maoists. In his play "Khuma" he indicts Maoists for their acts of violence through metaphoric imagery. At the same time he is no friend of the existing regime which is responsible for the misery of the masses. He received the best director award in the National Theatre Festival in 1999 and is presently teaching acting at the college of Film Studio.
Inspired by traditional Asian art forms, it is his persistent quest to identify these forms and weave these elements into the language of contemporary theatre. "Nepal, India and Bangladesh have great treasure of traditional arts. What we need is a collaborative effort to evolve a new theatre language out of these forms and to discover South Asian identity."
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