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Theatre on vacation

This summer the Delhi stage is facing a drought. DIWAN SINGH BAJELI tracks the causes

STAGE BLUES theatre directors Mushtaq Kak

Come summer and the theatre scene in Delhi becomes dull. This summer there appears to be a near-famine of significant new productions. Over the decades, Delhi theatre has become National School of Drama-centric. The School is closed during summer. However, some life is injected into this stale scene by theatre festivals organised by two premier institutions - the Repertory Company of National School of Drama and the SRC Repertory. NSD Repertory Company presented 13 plays with 26 shows and only two productions were new. SRC mounted five plays with 10 shows and all these productions were old ones. Despite repeat shows these festivals evoked tremendous response.

N.K. Sharma say that there is no dearth of original good plays in Hindi, one needs the courage to test them

During previous summers, some resourceful amateur groups premiered their productions at LTG auditorium which has the lowest rental charges of Rs.8979 for a half-day but this year it has been closed for a month for renovation work. More successful directors preferred to take time off and stay at a hill station for a change.

According to N.K. Sharma, the founder artistic director of Act One, a group dedicated to the production of socially relevant plays, some ideologically oriented directors are eager to stage experimental works during this season but they have no venue to present their works.

"Previously we had the basement theatre of SRC with affordable rental charges. This was the centre for showing bold experimental theatre, which evoked lot of debate, both in terms of theme and presentation style. But now it has been closed for reasons best known to the owner," says he.

Sharma, who would be coming up with "Pin Code... Punj", a love story set in undivided Kashmir, by the end of July laments, "The Basement Theatre of India Habitat Centre is not suitable for groups doing serious theatre because of high rent and the insistence of the management to start the show after 7 pm. Similarly to mount a production at Shri Ram Centre or Kamani you need about one lakh rupees."

SRC theatre productions features no new work, but it has thematic and presentation styles. Mushtaq Kak, Artistic Director of SRC Repertory, a dedicated and innovative artiste, says, "Our productions are adaptations of novels, autobiographies, regional plays and Western literature. We have produced the original Hindi play `Hamare Samay Main' by Shahid Anwar. This production suggests that there is no dearth of original good plays in Hindi. What is lacking is the desire to stage untested scripts."

Fund time

Then what does this dull season hold for stage directors in Delhi? "It is time for directors to earn some money. They forget about staging a play for their groups and worrying about funds. Instead they concentrate on conducting workshops," says S.K. Bannerjee, light designer and sound technician of LTG. According to him these days about 50 workshops and camps are being organised in Delhi. Sahitya Kala Parishad has alone organised nine workshops in different parts of the Capital for children. Each workshop has one experienced director and one assistant director who are being paid Rs.15000 and 10000 respectively for the month-long workshop. Similarly theatre workshops for children are also organised where participants have to shell out up to Rs.5000. In the coming month there would be a surfeit of children's plays conceived during the workshops.

There is another kind of workshop called an acting workshop. It is meant for those bitten by the bug to become rich and famous through short cuts.

Bannerjee, who is himself an advisor of a workshop, says the quality of training of acting in some of the workshops is poor.

The directors are ill equipped and the participants are in a hurry.

"Nobody is interested in getting trained in lighting, sets and costume designing. These young enthusiasts do not like to be told that theatrical art is serious and the creative impulse is not a straightforward affair," comments Bannerjee.

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