A few nights ago I found myself sitting in a packed theatre, eagerly awaiting the start of a brand new play called A Guy Thing; about two men stuck in a cabin during a torrential downpour. The two men were ably played by extremely talented (and cute) guys Neil Bhoopalam and Ali Fazal. And that probably explained why there were so many young women in the audience!
I thought back to when I first saw both these young actors on stage — Neil was knee-deep in a pool of water during National College’s fantastic staging of Voices. And Ali was part of an ensemble cast of a college play that tried out for the youth theatre festival, Thespo. Now, so many years later, both have built strong reputations for themselves as actors. Each has matured from just raw talent into a slightly more nuanced, controlled performer. And both, in spite of more lucrative TV and film careers, have always made time for theatre.
Watching these two on stage brought home a couple of startling facts. One, that “college theatre” has an important role in the shaping of our future performers. And two, that in the absence of a regular drama school, the next best thing is to consistently keep performing.
Not so long ago, it was much harder for young actors to get regular work on stage. Theatre groups consisted of many “mid-30s plus” actors, and the younger members were only entrusted to move furniture between scenes. Fortunately, that trend has changed. A large number of factors are responsible for that. For starters: the birth of new groups. Younger groups have given rise to younger actors. Once young actors began to get regular work, they began to get noticed by directors who, in turn, began picking texts to suit the talent. Once the plays began being about younger people, younger audiences began to emerge. To cater to the new audience, new playwrights were born. And a decade or so later, the entire theatre landscape of Mumbai (and in other parts of India as well) is much younger than it ever has been before.
In Mumbai, there have been numerous activities that have helped “groom” these new groups. Atul Kumar, Ramu Ramanthan and many others have been instrumental in bridging the gap between the isolated world of classroom theatre and public performances.
However, the most consistent and organised bridge has been Thespo, the annual youth theatre movement. Thespo finds plays (by people under 25) from all across the country and showcases them in an annual festival each December. Some of these plays have gone on to have numerous performances across India, and have made incredible impressions in the regular theatre world.
While, perhaps, not directly responsible for creating the talent, Thespo has given an outlet to numerous GenNext theatrewallahs. Apart from the two mentioned earlier, a large number of the Akvarious theatre group are Thespo alumni; as are members of Bangalore’s newly formed Actors’ Ensemble India Forum. Then there are young stage actors who have suddenly been noticed by cinema — Namit Das (Wake Up Sid, Lafangey Parindey), Amrita Puri (Aisha), Chandan Roy Sanyal (Kaminey), Anand Tiwari (Kites, Udaan, Aisha), the list goes on.
Although Thespo 12 will only happen in December, preparations begin now. A series of Orientation Meetings are going to be held, where interested young theatrewallahs can find out how they can get involved in the festival; be it on stage or off. For more details you can email thespo12@gmail.com.
For the rest of us “oldies”, I can’t wait to see what productions the new generation brings.