O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! -- William Shakespeare
To begin with such a famous quote by a famous dramatist like Shakespeare is itself a bone-twisting experience.Though, I belong to the school of literature as I’m doing my master in maj.English, I actually don’t consider myself an avid reader of plays and other literatures. But I equally know that the topic sounds other way.Okey,than I respect all the comments that will definitely hammer my stupidity (though I feel it’s not stupidity to write the reality.). Sometimes back,when I was offered to write on theatre, I tossed my head all nights,thinking what to write and how to write. But then I had no other ways, I just had to pick up the pen and a paper.
If i am ever asked to look at and verify the greatest theatre moment that happened in 80s than the first few prominent names that comes in mind will undoubtedly be-The Sarwanam and Aarohan theatre group, followed it up with most significantly The Pratibimba. I consider 80s resulted the present scenario of theatre. Today, out of zillions plays written in the west & the east,only few of them are dared to be showcased in Nepali theatre, and in this proccess of selecting and performing,sometimes good pieces of art are showed, & sometimes so called ‘most talked about’ plays are displayed when really deserving are unnoticed.Meanwhile,our own interpretation of western plays are garning rave reviews, along with the increasing numbers of paying public. Today, when Cinemas are calling lackluster,theatre is appealing from youth to old.
This is an age of new thinkers,and for a single theatre group to attempt a complete work of art is now both rash and unusual. So.Aarohan theatre group, which’s been entertaining us for more than two decade has emerged in a new face called Gurukul - a school of drama , providing different aspect of literature in one place .(go watch their Nepalese and western plays,films& documentaries, festivals and events of poems on their respective dates.) As a lover of theatre, if I have to analyse,I will say all the Gurukul products look very strong in their content. The women in its play are always strong and loveable and I must say they don’t expect sympathy from their male subordinates. Isn’t this encouraging. Frankly, I owe and respect all the great brains behind the Aarohan ,especially Sunil Pokhrel . Every student of theatre, every lover of it’s happenings, has credited for what he has done in the building of ‘Democracy’, and theatre itself. This is not an exception, there is another one waiting rings from your side. This is completely a place I would love to say ‘Actor’s Paradise’ (dare I say this) though it’s Actor’s Studio by name. To begin with,Actor’s Studio is a school of theatre,formed by Pratibimba group, running with the joint hands of Anup Baral &Anuradha Baral prominently. Actor’s studio has just passed it’s third group of scholars successfully and the best part of it -was the showcased of various palys acted and directed by it’s own students,who were very new to acting and directing diction. Personally,I know actor’s studio and it’s faculty the best.For me,they are the real showmen who ask three month of intensive training,under which students will let to know different ropes from performing and directing the play,and it cost nothing but talent,confident and complete dedication (visit it if u dare to dream big).The faculty, mainly, Anup Baral,is a nuclear reactor. It’s not possible to act badly in his plays. Why only plays even we can get glimpse of good acting in all the films he’s associated as a casting director. He is so motivating. As an actor, he breathes life into the very characters that he potrays. As a director he sweeps all critical acclaimation and award for ‘Khuma’ & ‘Baki Ujyalo”.Thanks to these broad thinkers who think differently and do things even more differently. For a theatre lover like me, Gurukul and ‘actor’s Studio’ aren’t just a place of mere acting and other discipline, they are the shock in the solar plexus.All these workaholics are working to get little applause from their viewers regardless of any hope for reservation and award.They are producing talents just because they are born for it. I have been watching every bit of theatre continuously & closely ever since I began to like the madeness of it, and I also have long felt the urge to write the whole emotion I feel for.
I visualize a scene in my mind. Theatre aspirings from Nepal are walking a long path through a dense forest, exploring, finding their way through. For a lot of them, these men already seem to guide them on their way. They have been there, done that, and in their tough time, they have made enough journeys on stage (and in person) to have been able to draw the many maps.Sunil Pokhrel &Anup Baral are over-stated reference point for many of their profession today.
No comments:
Post a Comment