WEEKEND SPECIAL

Theatre for a noble cause

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On Friday evening, the National Centre for Performing Arts in Mumbai witnessed a unique theatrical evening titled 36 Ghante, where 60 artistes came together to stage 10 plays (five in Hindi and five in English). The 10 writers, 10 directors and 40 actors devised all the plays within a span of 36 hours to commemorate well-known theatre group Rage Productions’ 25th anniversary. The proceeds of the evening went towards recognising the efforts of people behind the scenes as well as members of well-known groups who have played a pivotal role in Mumbai’s theatre scene.

The brainchild of Shernaz Patel, Rajit Kapur and Rahul Da Cunha (the founder members of Rage), this was the second time such an event is being attempted. It was first held in 2005 at Prithvi Theatre Festival after Patel had learnt about the concept from a Broadway website. This time, the trio decided to do it on a mammoth level to give back to the theatre community and bring various artistes on one stage. They roped in some of the biggest names for the event including Atul Kumar, Ramu Ramanathan, Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, KK Raina, Quasar Padamsee, Sunil Shanbag, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Neil Bhoopalam, Ranvir Shorey, Sohrab Ardeshir,  Anahita Uberoi, Anu Menon, Ila Arun, Sadiya Siddiqui and Sonali Kulkarni.

Patel says, “What a perfect way this is to celebrate 25 years in the theatre! To be surrounded by 60 of our theatre’s best and to watch them create magic; to have one evening that unites so many diverse and famous practitioners; to watch them take up the challenge of creating plays in just 36 hours with such joy and then to top it off…to acknowledge those who have given so much of their lives to this profession.”

Some of the people who were felicitated as part of 36 Ghante included Quasar Thakore-Padamsee, Toral Shah and Vivek Rao (members of Q Theatre Production and co-founders of Thespo theatre festival for the youth), theatre producer Manhar Gadhia, Shaili Sathyu (founder of Gillo Theatre Repertory who has done path-breaking work in Theatre for Young Audience), Jehan Maneckshaw (founder of The Drama School), make-up artiste Nandu Wadke, Madhukar Khodke (lighting technician at NCPA) and Neeta Daru (ticketing and licensing expert).     

The way 36 Ghante panned out was quite interesting. On October 25, the 10 playwrights were given a theme on which each of them had to write a 10-minute play featuring two actors and two actresses. They delivered the scripts by October 26 when the 10 directors blindly chose the stories and selected their cast members through chits. Rehearsals finally began on Friday morning, before the plays were staged in the evening. The event demanded extreme focus and concentration from all the artistes and gave them an opportunity to perform under pressure while bonding with their peers.

Faezeh Jalali, who directed one of the plays, says, “It was an extremely exciting as well as a challenging process. Usually, I take a couple of months to put together my plays, but this time I had to do this piece within a short span of time, so it tested my ability as a director and helped me discover newer things about myself.”

Ever since its inception, Rage Productions has been known for pushing the envelope and 36 Ghante is one more step in that direction. Whether it was introducing audiences to Indian English plays or staging pieces such as Love Letters, I’m Not Bajirao and Class of 84, which are longest running productions in the history of Indian theatre, or conceiving Writers’ Bloc where young playwrights are given a platform to showcase their works, the theatre group has always been a notch ahead. Plans are afoot to conduct the Indian chapter of Class Act (an education project conceived by Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre) early next year as well as stage the premiere of Sing India Sing, a musical that takes a behind-the-scenes look at reality shows in the country, in October 2018.   

Rahul Da Cunha says, “It has been an achievement for us to survive as a theatre group for 25 years. We have staged many plays, done diverse works and contributed towards the cultural landscape of Mumbai. Some of the plays that we have done in the past are talked about even today. Shernaz, Rajit and I have joint as well as individual priorities. Shernaz wants to give back to theatre and mentor younger performers. I like to do bigger productions while Rajit likes to stage plays in Hindi and other languages. The language that is spoken on stage and depicted in our productions is the one that audiences speak. We are happy that Indian English has finally found its own voice on stage.” 

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