Leading theatre artistes and technicians from India and outside are conducting a series of intensive workshops in Bengaluru until June 29. Called Theatre Prepares, the initiative aims to upskill the existing talent in the city’s theatre industry.
The series opened with an orientation session on ‘Understanding Visuals’ by Ravikumar Kashi on Monday at Ranga Shankara in J P Nagar. Eleven workshops spanning four to six days will be held throughout this month. Around 150 applicants in the 25-35 age group have been selected.
“These workshops aren’t for novices or seniors. We selected people who had a minimum of three years of experience in theatre,” shares Arundhati Nag, managing trustee and artistic director, Ranga Shankara.
Explaining the need for such a bootcamp, Arundhati says opportunities for upskilling in theatre are too few and what exists is either time-consuming or unaffordable to many. “Ninasam in Heggodu takes in 20 people, one person from each district in Karnataka. Plus it requires a one-year commitment (to the course). Adishakti offers a two-week workshop (in Auroville) but that is quite expensive. We have priced our workshops at Rs 3,000. In a few cases, we exempted the fee for applicants who couldn’t afford multiple wokshops,” she shares.
The hands-on workshops are designed for small groups of 15. The acting workshops got the maximum applications. These will go over character building, improvisation and voice skills. These will be offered by Suresh Shetty from New Delhi, Sooraj Nambiar from Thrissur and Bengaluru’s Maya Krishna Rao.
The scene designing masterclass by Nachiket Patwardhan will outline the importance of creativity. Arundhati says quite often, young artistes use a stage only horizontally. “But in ‘Hayavadana’, performed recently, set designer Deepan Sivaraman built a truck for the stage. All actors and musicians sat on the truck with props. It’s a lesson in using vertical spaces effectively,” she explains. Because of limited budgets, amateurs also tend to cut corners on costumes. Jayoo Patwardhan will offer a masterclass on choosing fabric with the right textures and colours.
Jamil Ahmed from Dhaka, Jonathan Taylor from the USA, and Abhilash Pillai from Thrissur will conduct classes focusing on theatre direction. Arghya Lahir and Niranjan Gokhale will demonstrate lighting techniques. Workshops on production management, and how to adapt classics are also scheduled.