It seems like the theatre community in namma ooru has grown arms and legs, as they reach out to other cities. There has been a steady rise in the number of home productions that travel to other cities as the artistes get a better look at the theatre-loving audience across the country. These artistes from the city tell us about moving home productions to new spaces and the rad reception they get.
Saurav Verma an artiste at XpressionZ says, “As a group we have been able to perform in almost all spaces in Bengaluru. We wanted to explore our audience and play at other cities as well. This was a way of learning the audience. Our shows in Hyderabad was a new experience for them. Bengaluru theatre is more commercial as the audience likes a good masala comedy. At other spots, people request to see feel-good and more profound plays.”
The hours of hard work that go into creating a production make it incredibly viable as a commodity. Leila Alavares, director says “The reason I take shows out is because there is a lot of effort and money that goes into producing. It’s not worthwhile to do just a few shows in Bengaluru. We get great reviews wherever we go. Western musicals are done more in Bengaluru, and other cities especially Mumbai wait to see them as they don’t get a lot of those.”
As a city, Bengaluru has been blessed in terms of the plays they get to view amassing several genres whether it be comedy, tragedy or a mix of both. Plays that receive rave reviews in the city encourage the artistes to take the show on the road. “Smaller plays and productions make it easier to travel. Our production
A Funny Thing Called Life has been to Mumbai and Goa. The idea as a group is to perform when it becomes viable for us as we are working jobs too,” says Vikram Sridhar.
Rather than the cities, the vision that curates theatre spaces makes all the difference as Abhishek Majumdar, a seasoned theatre artiste in the city says, “What is interesting about cities like Bengaluru and Pune is that most of the audience is very theatre literate as the exposure to good theatre is quite high.
They have watched the best of Indian theatre as well as international productions. You would performing to an audience that can’t be bought easily, is critical and who understand nuances. Spaces are curated by people who have a certain vision of what kind of theatre they want. That educates them and makes all the difference.”
