Theatre practitioners these days are faced with a perplexing question — are we artists, entertainers or “professionals”?

THE TRADITIONAL structure of theatre hierarchy is undergoing a strange shift. Usually when we talk of plays or theatre groups, our imagery is dominated by the director.

I can’t dance. I can’t keep a rhythm. I have no training in martial arts. So when I read “list your performance skills” in a workshop application form, I was stumped. As actors we don’t really have specific skills.

On Wednesday night the chaos and trauma of 2008 returned. The three serial blasts made everyone hark back to those bleak November days.

Philip Henslowe: Mr Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of the insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.

Quasar Thakore Padamsee

Stage musicals have become incredibly expensive to mount. In the 70s and 80s, this was not the case. Bombay theatre had the greatest hits – Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Jaya, Roshni, etc. But along with the financial burden, musicals of this sort were always in need of singers. So most directors would cast singers and try and teach them how to act. Or cast an actor who could hold a note.

I find myself at the Smriti Sabha to remember one of the giants of Indian theatre — Badal Sircar. Aside from personal remembrances by many theatre stalwarts, there were also excerpts of a public interview with Satyadev Dubey. Badal babu came across as a simple, passionate man, who seemed to be tired of being labelled merely a “playwright.”

The other day, I was sitting in a theatre waiting for a show to start. I looked around at my fellow “punters” and realised that I was probably the tallest audience member present.

A recent television commercial has titled two friends of mine as “theatre personalities”. What does that really mean?
Does it mean as theatre people we don’t really have any roles, we just turn up and project our personality?
Or is it an all encompassing term, like if you act, direct and produce then you are a “personality”, otherwise just an “actor”, “director” or “producer”.
M

Actors across the world are united by one universal truth — you have got to fund your “habit” by working elsewhere. As long as there is enough money for two square meals, new head shots and a gym membership, it’s all good. Serving tables is an old cliché. In a theatre in Canada, someone had pinned a sticker to the board saying, “Hi I’m a graduate in performing arts. Would you like fries with that?”