JAY JOSHI
It is perhaps one of the oldest mediums of entertainment developed by mankind. It has endured and evolved over thousands of years, and still continues to be one of the major crowd-pullers of our time. Theatre indeed holds a unique place in our cultural treasures. On the occasion of World Theatre Day today, we spoke to a number of dramatists across Goa to build an estimate how firm theatre stands in the era of rising digital entertainment.
Apart from the emergence of digital platforms, one of the major challenges theatre faces today is engaging young audience with shorter attention-spans who can quickly turn to their mobile phones if the play on stage has but a single dull moment. If you ask how theatre is holding up in times of change, the answer is a little difficult.
“I do not think the rise of TV or digital entertainment is having a negative effect on theatre,” says veteran Goan director VIjaykumar Naik. “commercial theatre is doing quite well. Now, actors and actresses from TV serials are coming to theatre, and that is a positive development.”
In recent years, Goa has also been privy to the rise of Maha-natya or mega-plays, which have budgets spanning crores of rupees and showcase hundreds of actors playing out epic dramas on big sets. Is this a new trend towards which theatre is now headed? Naik disagrees, “In such ventures, the art gives way to business. Calculations are made around profits, and that is harmful for art. Also, staging such big productions once in a while is not actually helping the theatre-movement overall.”
However, award-winning director of the recent mega theatre production Vande Mataram, Aditya Jambhale differs with Naik’s stand on the count of survival of commercial theatres as well as on relevance of large-scale theatre productions. “Digital platforms have indeed deeply affected commercial theatre. If you look at places such as Mumbai which has been a centre of theatre movement for decades, theatres are hardly 60% filled,” says Jambhale, adding that the industry is facing a crunch of quality content.
“Currently, lots of works created by legendary playwrights such as PL Deshpande, are being re-staged, and are doing well, but the original works by new writers are few and far between,” Jambhale avers. “This may be because digital platforms are encouraging creation of new content in a big way and young writing talent is absorbed by that industry rather than coming to theatre,” he states. Further on, he also adds that the balance of art and business is the key to success in the field and mega-plays are a welcome development. “Of course any art has to consider the business aspect. Art has to be integrated with business. If there is a team of director, artists, writers putting up something, then they should get returns. Secondly, why would the audience sit for two hours if we only consider business and there is not art or quality storytelling in such mega productions?”, asks Jambhale, but agrees that the growth in this sector is quite slow, and there is considerable risk.
According to actor and director Rajdeep Naik, a major challenge before Konkani theatre today is engaging young audience, and getting them to pay for tickets. “The festive theatre in Goa is in great shape and form, and we also have good plays, but that creates a problem for commercial theatre. Since people are more used to watching Konkani plays in zatras, they may be reluctant to buy tickets and watch a Konkani play at a theatre. This situation has to change.” he further adds that keeping the audience focused is becoming tougher. “People were patient earlier. Now, when we write a play, we have to consider the fact that attention span is short. So, the story has to be fast-paced.” Naik further notes that Konkani Tiatr is not facing the kind of problems with content and ticket-sales that Konkani theatre is facing. However, that industry is staring at a different kind of crisis, say insiders.
“There is no doubt that Konkani Tiatr is doing good. This may be because it has good stories and the music is live. But here too, we are competing with mobile phones for attention.” says veteran Tiatr writer, actor, and director Prince Jacob. He also notes that even though Tiatr is doing good, the industry does not have the financial muscle to stage mega productions.
