World Theatre Day: Mumbai's stalwarts weigh in on the way ahead

All the world turned into a stage quite literally last year From upskilling for Zoom productions and exploring new storytelling formats to grappling with economic losses and the lack of interactivity theatremakers have had to put up a juggling act Although performance venues started operating since the yearend the second wave has cast a shadow over the future of theatre Five Mumbai theatrewallahs make sense of this change in scene in the past yearPreserve the theatre cultureMumbai is a place where Marathi plays run at least three shows in a day So apart from actors directors and producers the industry dependent on them was hit badly During this time a WhatsApp group called Marathi Natak Samuha became active and helped out such professionals Although the situation improved in DecemberJanuary since March therersquos been an atmosphere of fear and theatregoers are hesitant So venues are staring at difficult times Another problem is the spike in digital content These factors can impact the culture of watching plays especially in nonmetros We need to find devices to bring theatre home without losing out on the interactivityChandrakant Kulkarni director and producerCome together as one familyFor over six months every evening I met artistes cinematographers writers and poets on Zoom to exchange ideas I also used the time to read watch cinema and wrote four scripts I attended an online course and some digital shows but I donrsquot think virtual theatre is feasible as we arenrsquot wellequipped There is no alternative to live theatre The theatre community needs to come together as a family and stand by each other nowManoj Shah founder Ideas UnlimitedHeading for hybridItrsquos been exciting to explore a new medium We did an evening of monologues early in the lockdown and actors had to be their own cameraperson do the lighting handle costumes and work out moves over Zoom it was fun The big upside for us was being able to share our work with new audiences in other cities and countries At the same time itrsquos very unnatural as theatre actors are used to feeding off each other To not have a live response is so difficult so empty Itrsquos not easy to earn in the digital space The audience is still small and you are either competing with increasing online content or people are just zoomed out Growing this alternative medium will take patience and time While digital experimentation will perhaps continue for smaller shows and in urban pockets itrsquos likely to be difficult or rather impossible for commercial theatre to survive with 50 per cent capacity or in the online space I think a hybrid format will emerge where we do live shows but also shoot them for digital consumption But that is a thing of the futureShernaz Patel cofounder Rage ProductionsThe screen is the new stageWe went from being houseful to shut almost overnight We used this time to assess the best way forward Therersquos been a lot of innovative work on online platforms In the short term we need to find a model of remuneration that makes it sustainable to grow the online space as if itrsquos a new venue In the long run therersquos another level of innovation that the performing arts can offer once the technological hardware is more developed The challenge is not to replicate the real thing but to develop a unique alternative experienceBruce Guthrie head of theatre NCPATime to upskillI did some virtual shows but the idea didnrsquot warm me up When the venues opened I watched films and plays I found there was a larger audience in theatre shows than the cinema thatrsquos because I feel the joy of watching a fellow human being live is unmatched and was missed Theatre professionals should use this time to acquire new skills read up memorise texts and learn a new language because this pandemic will be over at some point And wersquoll be back on stage for goodDanish Husain founder The Hoshruba Repertory