‘Smaller spaces and corporate patronage will help theatre’

Unfortunately,Hindi plays are not staged as much in Hindi-speaking areas as they are staged in Mumbai. People from these areas will come to watch plays for free but they wont buy a ticket. For them,theatre is not a paisa-vasool form of entertainment. So in a sense,Hindi theatre is surviving largely due to the patronage of Maharashtrians and Gujaratis. They come to watch these plays when they crave to see something different. While Gujarati plays have typical stories that are replete with comedy,saas-bahu drama and the likes,Hindi productions are subtle,have some message and have an aesthetic value.

In the English theatre scenario,earlier the plays were very typical but of late,a lot of good and interesting work is happening. Playwrights and directors can take a lot of liberties in that space and are staging plays that make a reference to sex and have scantily-clad actors mouthing brave dialogues. Such lingo is common for people between the age group of 15 to 30 in today society,so they dont find it offensive. But such dialogues cannot be used in Hindi theatre as the audience will find them crude.

There is also a dearth of original stories. We do have playwrights and directors like Manav Kaul and Makrand Deshpande,who write original stories,but they dont promise box-office success. Sometimes their plays work and sometimes they dont.

Today we dont have writers like Vijay Tendulkar and Mohan Rakesh,whose plays ran to packed houses and had more than 600 shows,as most of them are working in television and films. But having said that,we do have excellent directors like Dinesh(Thakur)ji and Naseeruddin Shah,who have the ability to adapt any story and stage it for the theatre-going audience.

Events like the ICC World Cup Finals and Indian Premier League matches affect the turnout at cinema halls and TRP ratings. As far as theatre is concerned,a one-off event like the World Cup Final will affect the turnout for plays,but otherwise ongoing events like the IPL matches do not curb the enthusiasm of theatre aficionados. Initially with the advent of television,everyone felt that theater will get affected but gradually everything settled down. Today,we have people who love TV serials and those who enjoy plays.

But the most important issue is that we should have more spaces like Prithvi Theatre across the country. Just as the the government provides housing subsidy for the underprivileged,similarly it should provide subsidy for theater. Malls should have small spaces that will not only give artistes an opportunity to perform but also create more awareness about theater. On few occasions,plays have been staged in multiplexes but they dont work for certain technical reasons. Rather than a big venue that is owned by the government,independent smaller spaces are more feasible as they run on lower costs and are perfect venues for Hindi and experimental English plays.

Just like multinational companies are now doing a lot of corporate social responsibility activities,similarly they should also encourage theater. They can invite groups to host plays on special occasions like annual celebrations,Womens Day etc. This will not only introduce the staff members to theater but also provide us with much-needed funds. When we stage shows in venues like the Prithvi Theatre or Mumbais Nehru Centre,we hardly break even. But with such arrangements with the corporates,we can start new productions.

As told by Preeta Mathur to Rinky Kumar