In three days, on July 30, Thespo will announce its 14th edition. Every July I, am faced with the same question, “Do I really want to be part of it again?”
And every time, I grudgingly get involved and then wait for the infectiousness of young people to kick in. Not only do young people possess boundless energy themselves, but they seem to act as “generators” — motivating, exciting and challenging us, the “older” folk.
This year, one of our festival managers is a 16-year-old. She was two when Thespo began. But that seems to be the nature of theatre everywhere now. The young are taking over.
Maybe that’s why I come back, to feel young again.
Canadian theatre producer, Ben Cameron, in his Ted Talk, speaks about how for the first time in our history, the creation of art has been democratised.
While we bemoan the loss of funding and lack of corporate sponsorship, the number of participants in the arts is booming. The digital revolution means that anybody with a laptop and a camera can be taking photographs and making movies: a privilege, earlier reserved only for people with access to large resources. And most of the time, these people are less than 30 years old.
Mumbai and Indian theatre is going through a similar change. The average age of people participating in workshops, performances and even in the audience has dropped considerably over the last decade. And this is being reflected in the work as well. Around 10 years ago Divya Jagdale wrote a play called Bansuri. The play was unique because it featured a young 20-year-old protagonist. At Writer’s Bloc this year, 10 of the 12 premiering plays were about 20-something year olds.
Maybe that’s why I keep coming back, so that I am still in touch with newer trends.
This “new” energy is adding “dynamicism” to a number of theatre centres.
Hyderabad, which until five years ago had very little theatre, now has almost a dozen regularly performing groups, all driven by youngsters. Similarly in Kolkata, there are more new groups now than ever before. Pune’s theatre landscape has been transformed by the influx of talented and driven young performers, writers, directors.
While not all these groups have a connection to Thespo, a fair amount of them do. In a recent conversation with some Thespo alumnus, I was a little humbled to hear what an important role the young theatre movement had in shaping their careers.
Maybe that’s why I keep coming back — the feel good factor of making a difference to someone’s life.
Some of the bravest, most fascinating and exciting work that I have seen in my life, has come out of groups performing at Thespo — 21 and 22 year olds unashamed to challenge existing conventions of theatre and story-telling; violently breaking new ground. I was surprised to find four Thespo plays in my list of top 20 most memorable plays I have ever seen — Apoorva Kale’s Pigs On The Wing (2002), Scherazade Kaikobad’s version of Steven Berkoff’s The Trial (2003), Ajay Kishnan’s Butter & Mashed Banana (2005), and Dharmakirti Sumant’s Geli Ekvees Varsha (2009).
I wonder what Thespo 14 will throw up. It’s still a long journey to the main festival, but Monday starts the first little step — letting young people know the festival is here, and anybody can get involved.
I think that’s really why I keep coming back, to see what brilliance each year will throw up.
Bring it on!