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Don't play with dinner!

Can dinner and drinks help digest a theatre performance? ANJANA RAJAN finds artistes have mixed feelings

Veteran actress Jalabala Vaidya.

What's a perfect date? Some would say dinner followed by a theatre performance. The more sumptuous, candlelit and lacy the dinner, the better. Maybe that's why some of the luxurious hotels of the city have tried over the years to combine dining out and seeing a play.

But some feel the twain can and should never meet. This might mean more potential venues to perform plays, but food and theatre "do not gel," says Sayeed Alam, director and playwright. "It is more like a mujra in modern times."

Alam, known for his comedies like "Ghalib in New Delhi" and serious plays like "Maulana Azad", just staged "Big B" at Tivoli Garden resort. Though the comedy went down well, he says, "We - the audience and performers - decided that next time it should be done in a proper theatre." Even though there was no service of food and drinks during the show, he finds the discipline of a theatre watching experience missing in a restaurant. One the other hand, at the pace auditorium rates are rising, feel Alam and other theatre personalities, it is necessary perhaps to work out a suitable formula for performers, audiences, and the hotels too.

A success story

MIXED FARE A scene from "Love Letters" presented at The Ashok.

One hotel most artistes agree is doing a good job in promoting the concept of theatre in restaurants is The Ashok, thanks to its programme of Café Theatre that has been running for two years now. Well known names like Rajit Kapur, Suhaila Kapoor, Lushin Dubey and Bubbles Sabharwal have been associated with these shows, which are held in the Coffee Shop of the hotel.

Arvind Gaur of Asmita is all praise for the concept. "I feel theatre should explore all kinds of venues. We should not make divisions like nukkad natak, dinner theatre and so on. The best part about performing at The Ashok was that afterwards during dinner, people from the audience came over to talk to us. It was really an amazing experience."

A significant feature of these shows is that the restaurant stops serving food during the performance. This makes many artistes comfortable. However, others point out that the guests hold on to the drinks and snacks they have already taken. Gaur takes it as a challenge.

"If your play has power, their glass will be frozen in their hand."

A scene from her play "See Saw" at The Ashok's Coffee Shop.

Alam disagrees though. "I have seen an evening (at an event at Le Meridien) when neither Kaifi Azmi, nor Rita Ganguly, nor Pavan Varma had the power." It is all the fault of the setting, he feels.

Veteran actress Jalabala Vaidya of Akshara, the theatre she and husband Gopal Sharman run in the heart of Delhi, also has misgivings about the concept.

She has been asking hotels in the vicinity of Akshara to cooperate with her by making tickets to Akshara performances available on their premises, a step that would boost sales and visibility of the group. However, they are so far only interested in having the performances at their own venues, she says.

Even if the audience could be made to concentrate (which Vaidya feels is unlikely, since eating too requires concentration, "unless you want to choke to death"), the sets, lighting and sound arrangements at these places are minimal, so the plays have to be carefully chosen.

Bubbles Sabharwal.

"Where are the wings," is a common refrain. However, Sabharwal, for one of her plays, had converted the entire Coffee Shop into a set, so that a scene of her play looked like a family having an eventful meal. A common problem, adds Alam, is that after the first few tables people cannot see and hear properly.

Maurya Sheraton was one of the pioneers in the supper theatre concept, with its WelcomTheatre, which officials say is still on.

Alam recalls staging a play at Radisson hotel six years ago. "I cut a sorry figure. I felt like a fool," he says, adding, "But we earned good money." And there, perhaps, we come to the crux of the matter. Money sometimes helps digest an unpleasant dinner.

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