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`Culture, a compelling teacher'
Pic. by K.V.Srinivasan
Breakfast time frames them at the table, with hell hot coffee steaming over the talk. Vadas flirt with chutney on Sanjna Kapoor's plate, while Paddy Hayter is engaged in the slippery task of conveying papaya cubes into his mouth with his fingers. Is this digital strategy a tribute to Indian culture? No, says he, a bit messy eh, he always eats this way. But sipping or chewing, their focus refuses to budge: all the world's a stage, all men and women merely players.
The lady looks winsome. Don't be misled. Sympathetic to struggling efforts, she can be ruthless with sham or inefficiency. Mild-mannered Paddy hides the steel with which he helped shape Footsbarn into an international travelling theatre company.
Sanjna's name is now synonymous with the Prithvi Theatre which hosted Footsbarn thrice in the 1990s, before this 2005 tour of six centres in India, in partnership with local theatres groups. "Perchance to Dream", the title of the Footsbarn show, gains new shades as Sanjna and Paddy share their experiences, convictions, and hopes — for what else but the revels that never end?
Gowri Ramnarayan records their dialogue.
Paddy: We love India, but we haven't had enough time to interact with the people here. Playing in auditoria is just not the same as playing in tents. We do it regularly in France. Draws young people. Also, with a tent you can leave the flap open!
Sanjna: I went to a fantastic tent show in Rajasthan (Excited) Oh, the audience! The women gave money only if they liked the performance. The clowns would take the cash, and announce their names on the stage. All this is dying out.
Paddy: When we weren't paid we passed the hat round. Actually, when we get grants I feel guilty.
Tie-up with local groups
Sanjna: We failed to get money for your tour from the British Council and the Alliance Francaise so we tied up with local groups. Rewarding. I heard that Magic Lantern, our Chennai partner, did very well with a play recently — 15 houseful shows. Great news! Wait, I'm going for idlis. (returns with enough sambar to drown her choice) Many foreign companies come here, take our folk, classical stuff into their shows, but don't give anything back. You do, that's why we like you! Why didn't Peter Brook come and perform in India?
Paddy: (Laughing) We don't want too many people coming to India! (Slowly) Theatre is about doing, rather than speaking. It was wonderful to connect with another travelling company in Heggodu. We had an emotional departure there, the Tirugata repertory members were in tears as we waved goodbye from the van!
Sanjna: We hope Habib Tanvir will connect with you. He too had this travelling company, but his best actors are no more, or too old. In Pondicherry you will see Veenapani Chawla's `Adishakti'. They're looking deep into old techniques of breathing. Can't take everything from Western training, our techniques must to grow out of our own needs and traditions. Paddy, do you come from a family of actors?
Paddy: (eyes gleaming) My father was a Shakespearean actor, obsessed, engulfed by the theatre. He went back to his village and continued his play-acting with the villagers, did Prospero at age 75. He'd read the text as he left for his fields on horseback.
Sanjna: (Appreciative) What an image!
Paddy: (With pride) I've got all his programmes. (Chuckling) He once did the `Ages of Man' with a lady playing the harp! He rehearsed till the end. Knocked over by a car, he glanced at his metal-capped nose from the hospital bed and said, "Well, my nose was always too long." He added, "I never could remember "As You Like It", but I did the whole of "Lear"." Sanjna, you come from a family of actors on both sides. They must have told you wonderful stories. Don't you want to act?
Sanjna: Not unless I have eight hours a day to rehearse, and no administrative work. I did think I'd be an actor, but didn't have the ambition that drove my aunt (Felicity Kendall) to struggle as she did and become famous. I wanted to be part of a travelling theatre company. My grandfathers (Prithviraj Kapoor, Geoffrey Kendall) had fabulous stories to tell. They made even eating hamburgers into a fairy tale! I feel envious (Pause). I console myself with the thought that you white people have only one life but we Indians have many! I'll be an actor in one of them. Meanwhile, in this life, I'll definitely organise a circus theatre festival.
Paddy: We landed in Bangalore and were taken straight to MG Road for a parade. Street urchins — such demons! — latched on to us and started leaping and dancing. In Africa you can't do a parade without getting mobbed. They sing and dance with you!
Sanjna: Parades were in my head from schooldays. In 2003, Prithvi had no money for publicity so we did a parade on Marine Drive. Our volunteers have this starry image of Shashi Kapoor — but young Shashi distributed leaflets, made announcements from rickshaws! At one time too much hype made the Prithvi festival pretty exclusive. So we had a parade. A ragged old man stopped to ask "Jennifer Kapoor's theatre?" and vanished like a ghost. We must go to the people, if we want people to come to the theatres.
Paddy: Once a Frenchman told us, "Do what you like with Shakespeare, but don't touch Moliere!" Then we performed a Moliere farce in a mountain village and they kept shouting "Another!" until we ran out of plays! (Signalling for more coffee) How do theatre groups manage in India? Any social security from the government?
Theatre school
Sanjna: In this country we don't have any system at all. We need to educate ourselves in dealing with the government and sponsors. They don't look at development, at how this or that group functions, but only allot sporadic, arbitrary grants.
Paddy: We want to start a theatre school to generate funds. Can't take the stress anymore.
Sanjna: (Anxious) You can't stop travelling!
Paddy: Not as long as we have the school for our kids travelling with us. Took a big decision in 1975 to take families along. The kids encounter such different cultures... (Musing) Culture is a dangerous business, the most expressive, compelling teacher. We must initiate a global alliance of travelling theatre companies, to share and learn from each other's experiences.
Sanjna: (Catching fire) An international centre for all theatre groups, big and small...
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