Curtain Call

A scene from The Tenth Head, directed by Veenapani Chawla

It was a regular Sunday morning at Adishakti, a theatre arts and research residency located on the outskirts of Pondicherry. Its founder Veenapani Chawla, 67, met the other resident-artists to discuss the changes to be made in their latest play, The Tenth Head. The play already had its first round of outing at festivals and other shows. Based on the audience feedback, they were to “recreate” the play before its second premiere at Adishakti on January 4. “After the play ran for a while, Veenapani believed in recreating it by making changes based on our as well as the audience’s perception,” says Vinaykumar KJ, an artiste at Adishakti. After the discussion, Chawla, who had been unwell for a while, suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away.
Almost till her last breath, Chawla — considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary Indian theatre — was engaged in her work towards creating a performance methodology based on old knowledge. She formed Adishakti in Mumbai in 1981. Some years later, she took up the mission of creating the methodology that involves a physical craft to facilitate the actor’s vocal, bodily and psychological expression. She took a significant step in this direction with the setting up of Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research, a self-sustained residential theatre eight km from Pondicherry, in 1993. In the following years, the space became a ground for creating some of the best experimental theatre productions, including The Impressions of Bhima, Brihannala, Ganapati, The Hare and The Tortoise and Nidrawartham. In 2011, she was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for ‘theatre director’.
“What is absolutely remarkable about Adishakti is that even though the plays directed by her were completely modern, they were rooted in ancient art,” says Sudhanva Deshpande, actor and director with Jana Natya Manch, Delhi. With her continuous exploration of traditional performing arts, such as Mayurbhanj Chhau, Kalaripayattu and Koodiyattam, she managed to use the lessons they offer to reinvent modern theatre.
Mumbai-based theatre director Quasar Thakore Padamsee — who was the assistant director of the international production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Tim Supple — recalls that the team was stationed at Adishakti for nearly 10 weeks, in two schedules, while giving shape to it. “She created this magical space where theatre artistes can stay and come back revitalised,” he says.
Throughout the year, the theatre residency hosts several workshops and retreats, living up to the image of being an art laboratory. “Veenapani was ahead of her time. Hopefully, after her death, she will get the recognition she truly deserved,” says Vinaykumar.