You don’t need a space to tell the story;

Third Theatre from academics to practice.

Dr. Satyabrata Rout

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I read a story somewhere. “Four intellectual scholars were going near by a river while they saw a man drowning. He was screaming for help. These four intellectuals heard the scream and ran towards the river bank. They tried to find a means to rescue the helpless man. They started discussions and plundered the books to find out a mean to rescue this helpless man. In this way they engaged in debates. The drowning man was continuously crying for help. A farmer who was grazing his cows in the nearby field heard the screem and immediately jumped in to the river and dragged that drowning man to the bank. When these four scholars came out with a solution the man had already gone home”. What I mean to say through the story is that our knowledge should be practice oriented. We must apply our academics with our experiences to find out a solution to the problem.

While working with Badal Sircar 30 years ago, I found him more academic so as his concept of “Third Theatre”. Perhaps that happened because of my limited and confined knowledge of theatre during that period. By that time Badal Sircar had already written a number of plays and was enjoying the merit of an intellectual modern Indian playwright. His most popular and path breaking play “Evam Indrajit” had already acclaimed as one of the most important Indian plays and was bestowed with Sahitya Akademi award. Many important Indian directors had already experimented with this play including B.V Karanth and Badal Sircar himself. By then he had already came up with his new intellectual concept “The Third Theatre”. But I did not quite agree with his working method.

He was invited to work with us when I was a student of 2^nd year NSD. He had just finished writing “Basi Khabor” (Old news) and wanted to present it with us. Before approaching to the play we had to undergo a rigorous process through a workshop based on his theory. It seemed very difficult for all of my batch mates to digest a new concept much different than the kind of drama we had practiced previously. Some of my class mates did not attend the workshop by giving different reasons. But I know why they have quitted. It was the time of exploration to a new kind of theatre. Badal da explained us the meaning of Third Theatre.

“There are two types of theatre exist in India. 1. The conventional theatre (Practiced in Maharastra, West Bengle, Orissa and other parts of India). 2. Folk and traditional theatre (India is enriched with this cultural heritage). Third theatre is a kind of theatre which did not reject the 1^st and 2^nd one completely, rather barrowed the spirit of the high- emotions from the conventional drama and improvisational ability from the folk and traditional theatre. It adapts the flexibility of peoples’ theatre and the audience participation. With the amalgamation of these two kinds of Indian theatre, the Third Theatre is born”.

His actors never require a conventional space, a typical scenic design and lights to present the shows. They can perform any where, even in the audience gallery. They can directly establish communication with the audiences and talk to them. Badal da rejected all the technicalities including spot lights, properties; make up and a specific stage to present his play Basi Khabar with us. As I recall; we performed the play in the passage in between the audiences inside the circulation unit at NSD; now known as studio no-1. The auditorium light went on glowing throughout the show, to mark the presence of the audience and to establish their active participations. Towards the end the actors talked directly to the audiences with tears in their eyes; “Jara sochie…. (Just think). The play was followed up with a discussion among actors, Badal Sircar and the audiences.

It was a wonderful experience for all of us. But I couldn’t understand the relevancy of this kind of theatre at that particular time period. For me, it was over dramatic. It might enhance my academic knowledge but in no way it will help in my practice. It was just an Indian version of Grotowski’s “The poor theatre” and nothing more than that. For me theatre was something different. Idealistic thoughts, beautiful designs, spot lights, characters with suitable costumes and make up completes a drama. Why to involve the audiences in our personal affairs? Let them watch a play and appreciate. It would become cruelty to make the audience involve actively in the production. The audience should be a passive observer but should not be an active member in a presentation. These were the reasons of my resentment for Badal Sircar and his working method at that particular juncture of time.

Slowly and steadily with continuous practice in the medium, I have to undergo with many kinds of performance styles. I faced different types of problems and tried to find immediate solutions to them. Sometimes I succeeded and many times failed. Working with different directors, artistes, theatre groups in different situations I got answers to many unsolved questions which troubled me during my student career. Still then I couldn’t agree with Badal sircar’s kind of theatre and perhaps that was the reason why I didn’t attempt his plays till I did “Evam Indrajit” recently.

I have my own reasons of doing “Evam Indrajit” after so many years of its creation. First of all I wanted a change for myself. I wanted to come out of my own spell; my own method which can found its root in Karanth, Habib and Ratan Thiyam’s working process. If somebody has ever seen any of my productions can very well understand the style I adapted in my presentations. Be it Passa, Nagamandal, Baji, Orubhangam, Rashomon or Karna Katha; the visual imageries and the exploration of spatial compositions provide maximum aesthetic experiences to the viewers in my plays which remain the most important dominating factors in my productions. The physical idioms of the actors along with the visual expressions of the scenography (Set, Mask, Props, Costume, etc.) every time become the driving forces of my productions. The reason is obvious. My working knowledge on the Mayurbhanj Chhau dance and my sensibility towards visual designs take the leading part in my creation which is purely Oriental and Indian from its foundation. In addition to it by assisting B.V Karanth for a longer span of time (more than 20 years) I imbibed an artitude towards music and rhythm which also become an integral part of my productions. That may be the cause of my initial resentment towards the “Third Theatre”.

That does not mean that I am too much stubborn and rigid to appreciate other forms. Many times my illusion has broken in many ways during my journey in to theatre. I have seen the horrified death of Safdar Hasmi in the midst of a street play in a suburban locality at Sahibabad near Delhi. That very moment I questioned myself, “Is theatre so powerful that it can lead to mass violence?” It was an extreme example of “Theatre of impact”. For the first time Badal da seemed relevant to me. After the Bhopal gas disaster, Ms. Tripurari Sharma wrote a play “Banj Ghati” (The barren Island) which was produced by Rangmandal, Bharat Bhawan, Bhopal, with all amenities and facilities. But unfortunately it was rejected by the native audiences where as we got appreciation in other parts of India. It disturbed me mentally. “Why it got rejection in Bhopal while we have tried our best to make the play as authentic as it could be nearer to the human tragedy? We have done thorough research and gathered references from the localities that were highly affected by the Union Carbide Gas. Our presentations were also genuine.”… I got the answer from my within… “No art is bigger than human experiences. It falls shorter against our own life”. That was the reason why the people of Bhopal rejected our production where as it was accepted in other cities. The people of Bhopal have experienced the tragedy physically and mentally. They don’t want to watch a play born out of their tragedy in which they just became the passive audiences. That was the day when Badal Sircar again became closure to me through his words “the audience participation”. In the year 1996 I conducted a theatre workshop with the actors of Voice of Maldives at Male Island. To my utter astonishment 75 percent of the participants presented the same story, “Three days captivation under the Srilankan Army”, in an improvisation given to them. The reason was very clear. The native people of Maldives have undergone a mass tragedy in the recent years that was still haunting their psyche which reflects in every human action, even in a small improvisation. Working with Barry John in the TIE (Theatre in Education) company of National School of Drama during early 90s I was exposed to school children in different levels. From posh Delhi Modern School to the Dipalaya society and Government schools at Govindpuri in west Delhi slums, I had the opportunity to interact with students of different socio-economical backgrounds with varied mental and psychological ability. I have got the privilege to work with mentally retired and physically challenged children. Ultimately what I found was that, “Theatre is not only a mere means of telling a story to a group of people rather it carries a huge load of responsibility towards the social reformation, human values and identity. It could be the best way to educate people and above all it can be used as a medium to recognize one’s own self. Now I realized why Badal Sircar was so much concerned for the true human values which he had tried with us 30 years ago. I felt guilty for not understanding this great personality whose heart was thrubbing for the people and society long ago.

India has experienced a drastic change in the human values during the 1^st decade of 21^st Century. Our life style has changed. Political, social and economical factors have revolutionized radically. Globalization is responsible for all shot of transforms. The age old traditional Indian value has paved the way to enter into the modern Mall-culture. Living in present became the modern day’s philosophy. The thoughts of Gandhi, Nehru and Patel left behind as yester year’s story. In this cutting age of time we all are undergoing the changes which start from our home to the public sectors. Unlike the past, Indian youth is not struggling for a secured job in government sectors. There are many opportunities lying before him. The focus of life has shifted leaving no room for stability and self realization. In a way our 21^st century generation is misguided and delusioned by the hex of Globalization. Badal Sarcar’s “Evam Indrajit” targeted to a bunch of Indian youths and their tryit with destiny. Our cutting age Indrajit surrendered all his ideologies and thoughts in front of the globalization. He let himself flow with the flow of the time and compromised with the situation. He left for America to study Software engineering and came back to India to work in a Multinational Company at Hyderabad like a machine, working with machines.

While working with my students in different situations, observing my children at home, seeing young and aspirant youths working in MNCs and other private sectors, I felt the necessity to react against a defocused modern society which gave me the impulse to undertake “Indrajit”as my mission project. The script required lots of modifications and amendments to bring out the contemporary value. Evam Indrajit was written in late 60s and it was the demand of time for that period which forced Badal Sircar to script this play. But now the situation is different. We have many opportunities and avenues lying in front of us. But what are the qualities and moral standards of these opportunities? As I said earlier diversification and degeneration of human value crept into our nerves. Our society is becoming defocused. We don’t have time for ourselves what to talk of others? A new conceptual script was created out of Badal Sircar’s play keeping the demand of the contemporary time.

The production was prepared for an arena kind of theatre with audiences sitting on three sides to watch the play. I tried to bring the third theatre elements in to the production but couldn’t fully concur with Badal Sircar’s philosophy in the beginning days of our rehearsals. We did not want to involve our audiences in an active participation as is the prime goal of Third Theatre. But slowly we came under the spell of Badal Sircar. Our actors made the audiences involve in the presentation which opened new horizon for interpretations. The performance area was slowly extended into the auditorium leaving behind the conventional space, primarily used by the actors. Each performances left behind one memorable event which is added to our life’s experiences. The theoretical concept led by Badal da on his Third Theatre which was immaterial for me for the last 30 years became the spinal cord of the production. By practicing on the floor I tried to understand the meaning of his concept.

Something happened to us in our recent show at Lamakaan open air theatre that enforced us to adapt a true kind of Third Theatre and made us aware of the fact that Theatre always remain in practice and not in academic activities like the story of those four scholars I naratted in the beginning. Presence of mind, dealing with the situations, improvisational ability would help you to deal with the conditions but not the bookish knowledge of academics.

We had the show of “Evam Indrajit” at Lamakaan theatre which is not a conventional space rather an improvised open air suitable for certain kinds of experimental works. With an audience capacity of 150 this place provides a lovely environment for small kind intimate theatre. On 26^th September, 2010 we were expecting a good number of audiences for our show because of Sunday. The sky was clear and there was no trash of rain. But around 6 pm the weather changed and clouds clotted in the sky with thunders and lighting. We got disheartened. By the time we start the show the weather situation became worse. We opened the show with 60 odd numbers of audiences. Just after 10 minutes of the show begun, rain started pouring in and lights went out. Since Lamakaan has no generator facilities we couldn’t pull up with the show further. I requested the audiences to wait for few minutes till the electricity comes. But it was raining and the audiences had already started moving here and there… some of my theatre colleagues advised me to stop the show and request the audiences to leave. Some also suggested me to wait for few more minutes. But it was getting late and there was little chance of electricity. Ultimately we decided to stop the show. I approached the audiences to leave and take back their ticket money. They were almost wet and leaning against the walls to get rid of the rain. Perhaps they did not want to leave without seeing this play. Someone from the audience gallery proposed me, “Why don’t we run the show up stair in the cafeteria”? But our actors became hesitant to present the performance there. It was a small hall filled with chairs and tables. Even if we clear ever thing and arrange it for the show it can at best accommodate 30 people properly. Moreover our well designed play would be spoiled because of the lack of suitable space. Before I could take any decision I found the audiences getting them adjusted into that small confined hall leaving no other option for us but to perform. Within seconds we mentally prepared to present the rest of the play in that cafeteria in the up stair. I instructed my actors to forget the set design, definite entry and exit points etc. while playing. The only thing that could save us from this disaster is the total conviction of the characters we were portraying. At the same time we have to create an emotional bond with the audiences by sharing their positive energies. I advised to keep control over our voices since it was a small, close chamber and not the open air.

There was a challenge lying in front of us. Presence of mind and the ability of improvisation what we have learn from our life will help us to overcome the situation. When we went up stair it was jam packed with people hardly leaving any space for us to perform. Interestingly some of the audiences were holding candles in their hands ready to watch the show. We requested them to give us a little space so that we can arrange our things to perform. Believe me we share a space with the public which was not even enough for a solo presentation. We put candles here and there just to have some lights and continued with our play. We improvised and reshaped the production during the presentation. There were moments where it could become difficult to distinguish the audiences from the actors. There were complete participations and intimacy among both the teams (the audiences and actors), much needed for this kind of play “ Evam Indrajit” as conceptualized by Badal Sircar in his “Third Theate”. The play ended with a different note than usual. It was a new test which we shared that day with the audiences. One of the audiences passed a jock at the end of the play, “You don’t need even a space to tell the story!”

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Dr.Satyabrata Rout/Dept. of Theatre Arts/SN School/University of Hyderabad/India