DATE: 23^rd September, 2019 VENUE: The IIS Auditorium

The students of the IISU Theatrical Society staged their Annual Play 2019  titled “Ek Bhoot Ki Atmakatha” on 23^rd  September, 2019. The play was a culmination of a 30 day workshop that taught the participants various styles of theatre, disciplines and etiquettes of working on stage.

The Chief Guest of the play was, the renowned theatre and film artist,Ms. Ratna Pathak Shah. She not only acknowledged the teams’ efforts into creating the play but also provided useful insights about what the focus points while performing should be.The entirety of the play was a result of a lot of time put in and had its own moments. After all, Rome wasn’t built in day.

Process and milestones of the workshop:

The journey of 30 days was a splendid one. Each step, leading the students to become better actors and moreover, better people with strong personas.

The workshop began with the basic step of familiarization. Introducing themselves, the students’ ideas and reasons to join theatre acted as a small window to knowing the team. They got to know the director, Mr. Siva Prasad Tumu and understood his expectations from the play, the team and his work ethics.

The very next step and one of the most important one was that of interpretation. It involved looking at the play beyond literal levels of understanding. Participants pondered upon the message these stories are trying to convey and how they link them to the real world. Through this, they got an outlook upon how the participants were not there as blank slates but came with their own set of thoughts which needed to be spoken out.

Portrayal through improvisations was a very intriguing step of the process. It not only showed how creative the participants were but also brought out their opinions in a structured manner. Each group gave different forms of the same story in different styles like mime, musical or dance drama or through plain narratives but with intricate formats.

Through these improvisations, the director moved on to character blocking. This was done through linking the participants’ personalities with the characters’ needs. Each person brought their own eccentrics and ideography as a contribution to the characters’ development.

Once the blocking was complete, the plot as a whole was formed. The loop holes were understood and covered and each story was worked upon numerous times with several different styles. In this, our acting trainers, Mr. Jagannath Seth and Mr. Mahesh Godeshwar, played a significant role.

The participants were introduced to Chaau dance and Pina Bausch’s style of theatrics. Mr. Seth made them understand the importance of inculcating the habit of feeling the rhythm of the music and the essence of the story and bringing it out in our movements. Mr. Godeshwar essentially worked on building an aura and leaving your presence on stage long after you’ve exited. Speech should not be limited only to words and dialogues but should create a link between the actor and the audience was his training motto.

The first run through was an impactful moment and nothing less than a milestone in this workshop.  The students understood what the play was trying to tell us, how strong its message is and how much more we need to contribute to it. It was one of the most emotionally moving aspect of this workshop.

Further to this came the stages of property development, set development, lighting and music settings and most importantly the art of projection techniques. The participants actively worked through the nitty-gritties of the play. Among other things was understanding how to use the stage space and exploring all possibilities of the set that was so vigorously made.

One thing that this workshop taught everybody all is that ‘Theatre’ is not just being on stage and delivering dialogues. It’s about understanding others and more importantly, ourselves. From getting rid of inhibitions, stage fears and mental blocks to knowing that no matter how quirky you might be, theatre accepts you for who you are.

It taught us that no role is big or small. We’re all working as a cohesive unit which might break and fall if one of us is lax.

This is a place where we find solace among a whole team. A little bit of you can be found in everyone.