Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola, and Federico Fellini. These are just some of the greatest filmmakers of a generation who began telling stories in the theatre. The two mediums, for as long as they have been around, have been inextricably linked to each other. Closer home, actors have always been at the forefront…
A new play opens in the city. There is an excited chatter amongst the audience members patiently waiting in line to enter. The bell rings, they stuff the last of the samosas into their mouths and wash it down with cold coffee. As they trickle inside the theatre and find the best seats in the…
On 11 May 1997, the world of chess was shaken. Russian grandmaster and world champion Gary Kasparov had just lost a historic match – he cried foul play and accused his opponent of cheating (which is not uncommon). What was uncommon was the victor: IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue. A few months later, in the same…
If you drive 75 km eastwards of Bangalore, towards Kolar, you will likely come across Aadima Culture Centre, a cultural institution co-founded by Dalit poet, playwright and philosopher K. Ramaiah. Over the years, it is where many young theatre actors and directors have experimented with children’s theatre, one that is rooted in caste consciousness. Born…
It’s the end of a rehearsal, the first full run-through of a new play. As the actors wind up and gather their belongings, you are standing quite still in the centre of the room. You’ve said you will do notes tomorrow because it is late, and everyone is exhausted. They shuffle around you, quietly saying…
When I think of doubt, I think that it is personal, emotional, bad, a hindrance, a nuisance. It is a feeling I hate having in my body. It makes me anxious, as if I’m at a vital crux, and if I choose wrong, I will die. The stakes are extreme even when they’re not. So…
I write this at the end of an intense week, heavy with conflict and questions for our future. The consecration of the Ram Mandir has been telecast to the world. If one looks purposefully at it, the ceremony was a carefully crafted performance – there was ritual and song, a chorus of fawning media, not…
For this article, twenty-four artists immersed in the world of theatre were interviewed to investigate what are the primary preoccupations shaping their perspective in 2024 and how they intend to respond to them in their work. Some very interesting insights and some old concerns were laid out, which is explored below. The future is abrupt,…
What we do in the world of theatre as playwrights, directors, actors, scenographers, poets, musicians, choreographers, and technicians, all of us without exception, is an act of creating a life that did not exist before we got on stage. – Egyptian playwright Samiha Ayoub, in her World Theatre Day Message 2023. The lifeblood of theatre…
Let’s dive straight in. Let’s look at two dictionary definitions — Woke: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues, especially issues of racial and social justice. The title to this article places the word woke in double quotes as “woke” to indicate a kind of hollow, hyper-alertness. Cultural Appropriation: the unacknowledged or inappropriate…