So before I go to other stories about Habib Tanvir it is time to go to Act One. Though so much time has passed since I was there, I still can't decide which way to feel about the experience. Joining Act One is related to another life event- my rejection by the National School of Drama. (that again is a different story...and a weird one...later) So, I wanted to do theater, wanted to act. Had never faced rejection before as an actor so I was heartbroken when the school of drama rejected me. I joined one of the most prolific groups active in Delhi at that time. This was 1994!
Act One was led by N.K.Sharma. Founded in 1990- it had created ripples in the Delhi theater scene. Piyush Mishra, Manoj Bajpai, Ashish Vidyarthi with Gajraj Rao, Ajai , Juhi Dogra were all part of the group. Edwin G Williams was the choreographer. It was the theater to look out for and they did some very good work in those few years together. 'Netua', 'Jab Shehar Hamara Sota hai', 'Holi' etc were some landmark productions of this group. It had very strong music content with Piyush bhai penning the songs and singing. The style was loud and acting passion driven. Well, sometimes 'passion driven' could mean just being loud. When I saw this theater it irked me to begin with- I thought they were doing something good but things were far too loud and thus were difficult to comprehend. During the four day long NSD workshop( where I was not selected ) they got an act one production 'Gagan Damama Bajyo' for us to critically appreciate. The play was based on Bhagat Singh and his life but it didn't leave an impact. Though later I played Bhagat Singh in the same play for a Kolkata show.
Act One in 1994 was a group in transition. Most of the older lot had left for Mumbai and elsewhere. The group had broken. N.K.Sharma called for a workshop which would end in a production. I joined since Act One did regular shows. The core remained the same- N.K. Sharma, Piyush Mishra, Edwin Williams , Babli Srivastava. Harsh Khurana, Chitrarth, Raj Mishra were still integral parts of the group. In the newcomers were Ritesh Shah, Sanyukta Chaudhary, Deepti Gupta, Pooja Mathur,me and a few others from the university. Bijesh, Shefali Bhushan were also a part of the group. It was I think the fourth year of Act One and we performed a play called 'Mujhe bhi chand chahiye'. It was largely a mish mash of Act One's previous plays but the Sri Ram Center auditorium was full on that September evening and it felt great to be a part of the group.
It is clear that N.K. whom people called panditji and has a bit of a cult status in actors coming out of Delhi, knew a fair bit, he was perceptive but I think was a poor communicator. Now, how do you direct if you can't communicate, or choose not to communicate!!! Also, a strange belief that if you humiliate the actor, the actor gets driven to prove you wrong and perform better was carried by N.K. The humiliation could go quite far.
So on one hand there was this charismatic personality in NK, who would connect with you, laugh and joke with you as also show you what you could possibly be missing in your personality but on the other side, it was someone who could be really harsh with you. Sometimes he could take you to magical moments in rehearsals but then he could begin to humiliate you. I saw many a decent actors getting ruined in Act One in my time. Sometimes the rehearsal space would seem like drudgery- it would become like a prison camp where you did not feel like entering. Now, N.K. would keep saying that his rehearsal space ought to be a place where people enjoyed working hard- creating theatrical moments- finding the truth in the written word but he would more often than not create an environment where it was difficult to be in.
So, Act One's contradiction reflected the director's contradiction. If you were slightly fragile- Act One could crush you. And that it did to me for a while till I reached Barry John who was a different person and a completely different experience. Well, as I said in the beginning, I can't decide how to feel about NK and ACT ONE, despite all the issues , I still cherish at least some of the time I spent there and though I don't think I will ever be inclined to get back in touch with NK but I still don't hold any grudges. That is Act One for you. I was with Act One for slightly more than a year in 1994-95. In 1997 I went to Barry where I learnt that theater needs to be a transformative experience. More about it later.
Act One was led by N.K.Sharma. Founded in 1990- it had created ripples in the Delhi theater scene. Piyush Mishra, Manoj Bajpai, Ashish Vidyarthi with Gajraj Rao, Ajai , Juhi Dogra were all part of the group. Edwin G Williams was the choreographer. It was the theater to look out for and they did some very good work in those few years together. 'Netua', 'Jab Shehar Hamara Sota hai', 'Holi' etc were some landmark productions of this group. It had very strong music content with Piyush bhai penning the songs and singing. The style was loud and acting passion driven. Well, sometimes 'passion driven' could mean just being loud. When I saw this theater it irked me to begin with- I thought they were doing something good but things were far too loud and thus were difficult to comprehend. During the four day long NSD workshop( where I was not selected ) they got an act one production 'Gagan Damama Bajyo' for us to critically appreciate. The play was based on Bhagat Singh and his life but it didn't leave an impact. Though later I played Bhagat Singh in the same play for a Kolkata show.
Act One in 1994 was a group in transition. Most of the older lot had left for Mumbai and elsewhere. The group had broken. N.K.Sharma called for a workshop which would end in a production. I joined since Act One did regular shows. The core remained the same- N.K. Sharma, Piyush Mishra, Edwin Williams , Babli Srivastava. Harsh Khurana, Chitrarth, Raj Mishra were still integral parts of the group. In the newcomers were Ritesh Shah, Sanyukta Chaudhary, Deepti Gupta, Pooja Mathur,me and a few others from the university. Bijesh, Shefali Bhushan were also a part of the group. It was I think the fourth year of Act One and we performed a play called 'Mujhe bhi chand chahiye'. It was largely a mish mash of Act One's previous plays but the Sri Ram Center auditorium was full on that September evening and it felt great to be a part of the group.
It is clear that N.K. whom people called panditji and has a bit of a cult status in actors coming out of Delhi, knew a fair bit, he was perceptive but I think was a poor communicator. Now, how do you direct if you can't communicate, or choose not to communicate!!! Also, a strange belief that if you humiliate the actor, the actor gets driven to prove you wrong and perform better was carried by N.K. The humiliation could go quite far.
So on one hand there was this charismatic personality in NK, who would connect with you, laugh and joke with you as also show you what you could possibly be missing in your personality but on the other side, it was someone who could be really harsh with you. Sometimes he could take you to magical moments in rehearsals but then he could begin to humiliate you. I saw many a decent actors getting ruined in Act One in my time. Sometimes the rehearsal space would seem like drudgery- it would become like a prison camp where you did not feel like entering. Now, N.K. would keep saying that his rehearsal space ought to be a place where people enjoyed working hard- creating theatrical moments- finding the truth in the written word but he would more often than not create an environment where it was difficult to be in.
So, Act One's contradiction reflected the director's contradiction. If you were slightly fragile- Act One could crush you. And that it did to me for a while till I reached Barry John who was a different person and a completely different experience. Well, as I said in the beginning, I can't decide how to feel about NK and ACT ONE, despite all the issues , I still cherish at least some of the time I spent there and though I don't think I will ever be inclined to get back in touch with NK but I still don't hold any grudges. That is Act One for you. I was with Act One for slightly more than a year in 1994-95. In 1997 I went to Barry where I learnt that theater needs to be a transformative experience. More about it later.
No comments:
Post a Comment