Tags:
Journalism of Courage
For 10 years, Quasar Thakore Padamsee has made sure that young theatre talent finds a stage
Tonight, Quasar Thakore Padamsee can take a bow. The tenth edition of Thespo, a theatre festival he has nurtured for a decade, comes to an end in Mumbai after 10 days of engaging plays and workshops. It8217;s an important milestone, not least because young theatrewallahs of the country have found in Thespo a platformnbsp;to showcase their edgy experiments.
Looking back, Quasar, popular as Q, is amazed at the 8220;youthful arrogance8221; that ensured that Thespo returned every December, since it started in 1999. And each year offered a bouquet of full-length plays something often missing in college theatre fests by theatre enthusiasts below the age of 25. 8220;Now it appears unbelievable that we could tide over all those crises because of our passion,8221; says the 30-year-old, who started Thespo with a group of 10 friends.
In the last few years, Quasar has worked as a consultant, letting younger Thespians as Thespo volunteers call themselves take centrestage during the annual event. But he has never been alone in keeping the fire burning. His friends Himanshu Sitlani, Christophe Samuel, Toral Shah and others have always been by his side. Though since 1999 some original Thespians have branched out and new people have moved in, Quasar8217;s commitment remains unflinching.
Many would credit Quasar8217;s parents for his passion for theatre. But the son of Dolly Thakore and Alyque Padamsee8212;two of Mumbai8217;s famous theatre personalities8212;denies any familial inspiration. His logic: he spent his formative years, 8-18, away from home. So in the absence of his parents8217; motivation, the task of introducing Quasar to his true calling fell on the great American playwright Tennessee Williams.
8220;It was while acting in a school production of Williams8217;s The Glass Menagerie at Rishi Valley that the penny dropped. I was blown away by the power of words. I knew then that I would always be associated with theatre,8221; says Quasar. However, it took some more years for him to take up theatre seriously. He went to Singapore to do his International Baccalaureate which offered 8216;theatre8217; as a subject.
But it8217;s St Xavier8217;s College, Mumbai, where it all started. English Professor Eunice De Souza asked Quasar, then a second year graduation student, to co-direct Inherit the Wind with Ayesha Dharker. With the actress choosing to act in Santosh Sivan8217;s Terrorist, Quasar handled the task alone. This helped him realise that he loved direction more than acting. The young Xavierite returned to direction the following year with The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. Soon, the play moved out of campus to the National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai. With this, Q Theatre Production QTP was born in January 1999. Under QTP, significant plays by young actors and directors, including The President is Coming and Crab, were performed. Ten months after QTP, Thespo made its debut with a day-long festival of one-act plays. The next year, it became a festival of full-length plays.
After graduating, he worked in an advertisement agency for a year. In 2001, Quasar, his friends Shah and Karl Alphanso decided to give a shot to full-time theatre8212;at least for a year. The only regular job Quasar has taken up after that is of assisting Tim Supple for A Midsummer Night8217;s Dream. 8220;For the last three years, I have been touring with Supple8217;s production. And I am paid to do professional theatre,8221; he says. A Midsummer Night8217;s Dream is the reason why he hasn8217;t directed another play after Khatijabai of Karmali Terrace, featuring Jayati Bhatia, in 2004. In 2009, he plans to direct a devised play.
Most theatrewallahs harbour the ambition of moving to films. But Quasar denies having any such desire. 8220;Cinema for me is strictly for entertainment. I don8217;t want to know what happens between the shots,8221; he says. But with theatre he is always keen to demystify the magic.
