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‘We haven’t changed the idiom’ Director’s Cut
Rahul da Cunha,
Rahul da Cunha, the director of Love Letters, which has been running since it was first performed in 1993, fields some questions about this hugely successful play.
How resonant are love letters in the age of SMSes and emails?
I think in these emotionless times, when we have no time for each other, the personal touch is most required. Any day, human touch of a letter outweighs the touch of a button. This play tells people to head to the nearest post office rather than the closest cyber café.
How faithful were you to the original script?
In 1992 when we opened the play, we pretty much stayed with the original script – but we chopped out a lot of the references that we felt were too American. What we did however was to radically change the interpretation that the writer indicated in his preface. In his playwright’s note, he states quite emphatically that he doesn’t want the cast to move, no sets, no props, no music. We added all that much to his annoyance!!!
Will there be any change of idiom for local tastes?
No we didn’t change the idiom. If I was directing the play today in 2007, I might have adapted to the Indian context.
How has ‘Love Letters’ changed from the first time it was staged about 14 years ago?
No ‘Love Letters’ hasn’t changed
A lot of good theatre directors are moving on to films. How do you see this trend?
Yes. It is true, a lot of the present crop of theatre directors is moving into film, especially during this time of the small budget-multiplex film. A lot of intelligent directors, with stories to tell, feel that this a great time in our cinema history to make such films. So much has changed – we now have song-less films, where the running time is two hours and no hero-heroines dancing around trees – it is a time when if a good director has a story to tell, he will find both the money and the audience. I am also making my first feature film next year...
Are there more people willing to pay to watch good plays now? As against before when serious theatre seemed to face a bleak future?
Yes, I do believe that the theatre going audiences have increased hugely.
Small budget, niche movies are a big rage now? Does this trend affect theatre-going audience?
In fact, because of the small budget niche movie, audiences are now prepared to watch serious plays.
The MetroPlus Theatre Fest is presented by Bose. Associate sponsor: Nippon Paints. Hospitality
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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