PLAY STATION

Bangalore is the new theatre destination

Bangalore is the new theatre destination
In June,The Blue Mug with the star-studded cast of Konkana Sen Sharma,Ranvir Shorey,Vinay Pathak,Sheeba Chaddha and Rajat Kapoor opened in Bangalores Ranga Shankara. The play,directed by The Company Theatres Atul Kumar and revived after four years,ran to packed houses. Three months on,Mumbai is still waiting for it.
Both Kumar and Kapoor are excited about the theatre spaces that Bangalore has to offer and the audience it is steadily building up. The city has emerged as a major theatre hub and the audience there is growing, says Kumar.

The Company Theatre,which also took its META Award winning Hamlet-The Clown Prince to Bangalore,is not the only group that has discovered the citys cosmopolitan audience. In August,Ranga Shankara,a theatre hub that is to the city what Prithvi Theatre is to Mumbai,hosted Pune-based Aasaktas festival of plays. It produced and staged Hakki Haarutide Nodidira,the Kannada adaptation of Vijay Tendulkars Ashi Paakhare Yeti,directed by Mumbai-based Manav Kaul. He ended up directing two morethe English version of his Park and Antaheen,an adaptation of Jean Paul Sartres In Camera. Most major theatre productions used to have Delhi,Mumbai,Chennai and Kolkata on their itinerary. Now,they have added Bangalore to it, says Mumbai-based Mahesh Dattani,who has two shows of Brief Candle slated in Bangalore this month.

A quick glance at the citys cultural calendar reflects a busy theatre scene. A closer look shows how the changing profile of the theatre audience,which now mostly consist of youngsters and mid-career professionals. The catalyst for these changes has been Ranga Shankara. For the last five years,Arundhati Nag,the force behind this theatre hub in south Bangalore,has made availability of space easier at Rs 2,500 a day. We provide one of the most affordable and best-equipped theatres in the country, says Nag.

The 350-seat theatre with a café,open space and a daily evening show aims at drawing a regular crowd. We have introduced theatre stalwarts like Ratan Thiyam and Neelam Mansingh to the audience here as well as brought NSD repertoire. We have opened our doors to plays in various languages, says Nag. At present,she is busy with Aha,an international childrens theatre festival that features plays from Germany,Argentina and Australia. That and the annual festival scheduled in November head the audience-building exercise. We support every play,immaterial of its quality as the prime aim is to draw the audience, she says.

Kannada theatre always had takers in the city. But availability of spaces for plays in other languages is now making a difference. So are the young professionals who have moved to the city thanks to the IT boom. Like Marathi theatre has always done well in Mumbai,Bangalore has Kannada theatre. Its Prithvi Theatre that provided space to Hindi theatre initially and later to plays in Gujarati,Marathi and English. Here,Ranga Shankara has fulfilled that need, says Nimi Ravindran,Bangalore-based writer-theatre director.

Earlier,Ravindran used to be involved in one or two plays a year. After Ranga Shankara opened,she has had her hands full. Right now,shows of her Five Grains of Sugar are lined up at Kyra,a swanky restaurant that hosts supper theatre,and an alternative space called Grasshoppers,which is a warehouse.
In response to the growing theatre culture,a number of groups have sprung up. Techie Abhishek Mazumdar quit his job to start Mayavan while Pawan Kumar launched Actor and Mallika Prasad her group Actor Ensemble.

With a string of intimate and unusual theatre spaces coming up,experimental and serious works have found a platform. Kyra opened last May to provide space for artists to perform while the visitors can enjoy a nice meal. However,if its a serious production,we serve a drink before it starts and dinner after it ends, says owner Dipali Sikand. Encouraged by the Bangalore experience,she is planning to open its branch in Chennai.
Early 2010,the metropolis will have a new venueJagriti,in the east of Bangalore. Though the focus of this 200-seat auditorium will be theatre,it will host all kinds of performing art events, says its artistic director Arundhati Raja. But if the Bangalore-bred playwright and director Dattani is to be believed,the city needs more auditoriums dedicated to theatre. Bangalore is a nouveau city. Kannada theatre is not high on quality while the English theatre is yet to become prolific. But cities like Delhi are steeped in the classical art culture while Mumbai enjoys a following for Marathi,Gujarati,Hindi and English theatre, he says.

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Bangalores theatre culture might be winning audiences,but many feel the need to improve the quality of productions. Many youngsters are interested,but they lack professional commitment, says Kaul. Both Raja and Toral Shah of the Mumbai-based Thespo,which provides a platform to young artists,agree that there are many young theatre enthusiasts in the city. All they need is training and exposure,Dattani says.