Lessons in Stagecraft

One of Clerk & Joy’s recent plays,which revolves around the volcanic eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010,had the experimental theatre group recreating an ‘ash cloud’ on stage. The UK-based duo who head the group — Rachael Clerke and Josephine Joy — will be at Prithvi Theatre this month,giving lessons on how to bring natural phenomena such as rain,storm on to the theatre stage. These workshops are part of Thespo15,a national festival for under-25 theatre practitioners. The festival will run from December 5-15 at Prithvi Theatre,Juhu,and Bhavan’s Andheri(W).

“This year,our focus is not just on masterclasses in acting,but on all aspects of theatre including behind-the-stage skills,” says Sakshi Bhasin,who heads the workshops this year. The festival that aims to encourage the country’s best young theatre,has increased the number of workshops to 11 from last year’s four. The line-up includes ‘Magic Hour II’ by Arghya Lahiri that explores stage-lighting; ‘Stories Re-Told Through Object Theatre’ by Choiti Ghosh; ‘Vocal Wizardry’ a masterclass on voice training by Ameen Sayani; and ‘Starting Off: Idea to Treatment’,a guide to writing by Mahesh Dattani.

There will be workshops by international theatre groups ,as well. Five plays from the workshops will be staged on the last day. mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com