This status is long overdue. Shoot ideas. Turn ideas into dreams. Convert dreams into plans. Get together. Then turn these plans into stories and stage them. And eventually change and transform the theatre scene in the city instead of staying home and complaining about the lack of good art. MADHOUSE PROJECT was conceptualize with this very notion in mind and I am glad that chapter 1 was such a huge success. The two new groups were far from perfect, but every one in the audience agreed that their plays reflected honest effort and an attempt to break out of the cages of school level theatre and go semi professional. At least one percent of the projects dream has been realized. I am also amazed and humbled by the fantastic response to Roms premiere show. A sensitive subject matter was received with heartwarming appreciation as the audience very specifically congratulated the team for doing away with stereotypes and caricatures all together. At a personal level, I think the real credit must go to the plays one of a kind visual treatment, a feat that was pulled off in merely five to six days, thanks to director Anisha Mandals designing sensiblities, Abhyam Shukla, Radha Saikia and Sreya Sahas innovative static set that established two distinctly different bachelor pads with almost cinematic realism and Subhrajyoti basus effective lighting that cleverly used warm and cool colours to distinguish the zones and the strikingly different character traits of Venugopal and Abhishek. On another note, I have never been a fan of dramatized readings and have often found them monotonous and pointless. But I was proved wrong day before yesterday, as I watched Shaonli Mitra read out her legendary solo play NATHOBATI ANATHOBOT at Rabindrasadan. It was haunting and overwhelming how a woman simply confined to a chair and a table for two hours can simply grip and mesmerize the audience with the subtle nuances of her voice. The lines resonate inside your head for a long time after the show ends, sukhi boro sukhi chilo panchapandaba priya. The brilliant team of musicians and arpita ghoshs lights design must also be mentioned. The performance was a part of the first national theatre conference 2014 organized by the Minerva repertory, its turning out to be an outstanding event in itself. Wish I could attend all the lectures! And just by the way, new scripts, new plays, new dreams, new ideas and the chapter 2 of MADHOUSE PROJECT. Coming sooner than you expect. :)
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 19:59:52 +0000
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