Wordless Wisdom

Born in Trissur district of Kerala, Kumar took up theatre at a very young age. After professionally taking up theatre with the Veenapani Chawla group in 1992, he staged his first play Greater Dawn in 1993.

Talking about the award, he says, 8220;This is the first official recognition and any comment would be clicheacute;. So I would just like to celebrate it and resume my work while I try to keep up to this.8221;

Talking about the widening periphery of theatre, Kumar says that idea needs to be communicated to larger audience. One regional group represents the ethos and tradition of one region. And a community is more an idea than a language or tradition. To convey that idea to larger audience we need to grown and reach out to them.

8220;In a creative sphere one needs dialogue. So one regional group must interact with other regional group to share and learn and thus evolve,8221; he says.

When asked about the exposure in theatre, he says, 8220;It is an accepted fact that theatre actor has limited exposure in compared to cinema artiste. However this theatre is a strong medium and helps an artiste evolve in every form.8221;

Acknowledging the government support, Kumar says that despite much support from government, in terms of funds, theatre lacks popularity in India.

Noted actor and theatre artiste, Rajat Kapoor was also a part of the ongoing theatre fest, Theatre Beyond Words.

Talking of his new form of theatre where his characters are clown, he says, 8220;This is new form of expression or a way of stylizing. Had I been a classical dancer, I would have thought of dance being another form of expression in theatre. The sources of my inspiration were many from Chaplin to my infant daughter.

Commenting on the trial and learn method of theatre, actor Amol Palekar, says that every script progresses on its own after a starting point is defined for it. Actors and directors are researchers, who try to find newer methods of expressing oneself by overcoming certain difficulty that one faces when denied of a medium.8221;

When asked about what kind of research was done to come up with a play on clowns, Kapoor says, 8220;Research happens on stage during rehearsals. It is a process-based thing that progresses as everybody adds to it in their own way and when everybody is trying to perceive and expand the idea as a whole,8221; adding, 8220;I wanted to do a play on clowns but I had nothing in my mind, not even a story. So we took clown as a performer and then base our story on this. We worked on how a clown talks and behaves.8221;

Talking of on-stage-improvisation, he says, 8220;The scope of improvisation is limited to rehearsals. In the final play, you cannot afford to improvise. However, folk theatre is an exemplary example of improvisation, where they take up simple issue from day-to-day life and milk it to an extent that the play could go for more than two hours.8221;nbsp;