‘Children natural actors, spontaneous performers’

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It will be the dawn of a new era on Kolkata’s theatrescape from the umbrella of Rangakarmee. The idea is to sprinkle a palette of fresh hues on the stage’s canvas. Or nurture young nestlings till the birds learn to flap wings and fly high up in the sky. Usha Ganguli, the thespian, says: “We have been searching for child artistes through our newly-launched wing called Rangoli since January this year. And we are happy with the overwhelming response we got from the minor actors and their encouraging parents. Buoyed by this positive response, we have been frequently hosting workshops and teaching a bunch of bright kids every Sunday morning to prepare them for the stagecraft.”
In a bid to tap raw new talents for the natya-manch, she has delegated the task of supervision to one of Rangakarmee’s able performers, Raja Bhattacharya, who’s been overseeing the entire process. “Supple minds are like a mound of clay which needs to be moulded into the crests and troughs of the theatrical slopes to attain the shape of a true blue stage practitioner,” says Ganguli. “A bona fide theatre actor is born when he learns his lessons through heart, keeping in his brain the nuances of the medium’s techniques. Theatre is still a very niche craft. We need to educate more mass audiences,” she says.
Running her troupe single-handedly and performing with equal panache for the past 35 years, Ganguli recently steered a three-day workshop for teenagers on theatre at a Starmark bookstore outlet in Kolkata. The participants included those between the age group of 10-15 years.
“I generally conduct workshops with adults and senior artistes. But two years back, I happened to do workshop with a bevy of child artistes and, much to my surprise, I could fathom a spate of spark and spunk in their zeal to perform beyond limits. The sheer potential in them makes them even more promising in their own right. They are a volcano of talent. I thoroughly enjoyed their company and their co-ordination was intensely enriching. It’s a known fact that children are natural actors and spontaneous performers. They react to cues instantly and have no inhibitions to tread beyond borders. They are fast learners and pick up the basics with a sense of alertness and alacrity. This time, when the popular retail brand approached me, I readily lent my consent to their project,” she says.
Ganguli asserts that Rangoli, with its riot of chromes, pledges to provide a platform to the youngsters of today. “We intend to form a group of gifted teenagers and perky kids with their pitched-in resources motivated towards the high-on-histrionics artform. The fact that they are not professionally trained actually gives them an unassuming spin to be cast into the coveted character from a directorial point of view. Their body language speaks of their keen knack for the craft in which they always put in their best foot forward. If all goes well, Rangoli will get to unveil its inaugural play in another six months. Since we have earmarked 2010 as the year of Tagore on our cultural calendar, we thought why not dedicate the first piece to the bard? Incidentally, the current year also celebrates the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Nobel Laureate. The play will be based on one of Tagore’s short stories from his celebrated collection, Galpoguchha,” she says.
Theatre should be foremostly treated as a national subject — a part of Centre’s agenda, advocates Ganguli. “It ought to be made a compulsory module of the existing academic curriculum. Theatre should gain root right from the secondary school syllabus. Young minds can be fostered to introduce theatre in their day-to-day activities as an educational tool. And this habit should be inculcated in their formative years only to support their growth as an all-round developed personality. In our time, there was no stream called theatre per se in the course of studies, notwithstanding our fetish for songs, dance and other cultural artforms. But now students should be ingrained into it. This will only help boosting the importance of theatre in the modern-day mainstream e-entertainment business,” she says.
Talking of the workshop, Ganguli apprises that different schools took part in the session as one single family. “It is a teamwork after all. So, none can remain an isolated island. One can learn a lot from theatre. It instils self confidence, generates consciousness and imparts a store of common knowledge amongst one another,” she says.
Plans are also afoot to design a studio theatre that makes room for an intimate space for a bulk of 100 people in a batch. “We’d also lay our emphasis on experimentation and put the spotlight over young generation artistes, their works, perceptions and thought processes. Our group already boasts of a clutch of 20 young actors plus resident newcomers within its bounds. We aim to organise another theatre festival revolving around the repertoire of young theatre personalities and directors. To this effect, Rangakarmee has already applied to the government’s art and culture department for adequate funds. Come January 2011, the opening show of Tagore’s illustrious dance-drama Chandalika will be staged, the rehearsals of which would probably kick-start this month,” she says. “There have been tremendous contributions from the women theatre practitioners in the domain of theatre, yet not a single auditorium in Kolkata has been named after a Noti Binodini or Tripti Mitra or Keya Chakraborty till date,” she says. “We hope to rope in yet another stage veteran Shobha Sen to declare the fest open,” she says.