Welcome to the virtual world of theatre & its real challenges

This week actor Mallika Prasad Sinha’s solo play ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ was streamed online for the first time. While she has earlier performed the play on stage, this time it went digital for viewers to stream it on their personal devices. Produced in coordination with Actors Ensemble India Forum, the play is a story of four women dealing with isolation.

The Covid-19 pandemic over the past year has kept theatre spaces shut and theatre groups are increasingly embracing the online space to keep their shows running and their art alive. DH spoke to a few artists to understand this transformation.

Co-existence

While for centuries, theatre professionals have marvelled at this medium “being real” compared to television and cinema, they have now begun to acknowledge that the digital space and the traditional stage must coexist, according to theatre doyen Arundhati Nag.

A digital play transcends the conventional boundaries of the stage. “It’s not cinema and it’s no longer theatre. It’s probably ‘about’ theatre,”
she says.

Ranga Shankara, the theatre institution founded by Arundhati, is regularly streaming plays online. Currently streaming their seventh play - they are free for viewers - they had also earlier streamed six plays that were paid, says Samyukta M, Programme Associate, Ranga Shankara.

‘I am an Actor’ acting studio is another company to have gone online. Theatre professional Prasanna B, who runs this studio, conducts annual acting classes for children. This time though, it’s entirely online. As part of the course, they recorded a play ‘Cinderella’.

How does one create a theatrical experience online? Is it just a recorded version of a play performed on stage or does it involve other nuances?

“Theatre is a group activity. We are defying this basic idea the moment we go online. While recording a play online, each child has to perform individually and then we edit it later,” Prasanna explains.

Since the children took part from home, all household items beginning from a bed sheet to a curtain, served as props. “We sent references for costumes and had to take the help of parents,” he says.

Embracing the digital has been inevitable but challenges are aplenty.

For, a digital play often contradicts the tenets of the conventional stage. “When I see a play, I know how to fix any loophole. When it comes to digital material, editing and getting the camera angles right is difficult. Artists have been caught on a weak leg here,” Arundhati says.

Actor Mallika Prasad weighs in on her experience. Unlike watching a film, theatre is a shared experience. Recreating this online is a challenge, she says. She has been working on the digitised version of ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ since the beginning of this year.

During a solo performance on stage, the character transformation is through body movement, costume and movement from one part of the stage to the other. Using the camera to depict these changes is a challenge.

“The trick is to engage efficiently with the camera while ensuring that the technology is not hijacking the story itself,” she says.

Technicality of the theatre aside, retaining the audience’s interest online, too, is not an easy task. For, the audience tends to dwindle soon.

“With the lockdown, the average screen time at homes has gone up. Perhaps everyone is tired of the screen,” points out Samyukta on why there aren’t many takers for online shows.

Nonetheless, the artists are optimistic. “Artists are quick to adapt,” says Mallika and Arundhati concurs.

Both online and offline, theatre will coexist and something good will come out of this churning, she says.