A theatre lover needs to read this book. Those studying this art, it will complement and supplement their learning. But for ardent admirers of Badal Sircar’s craft, it is a must. We are talking about “Badal Sircar: Towards A Theatre Of Conscience” by Anjum Katyal. Well researched and following a chronological order the book closely studies important plays of this well known playwright-director. It is interspersed with relevant quotes too.
Amol Palekar in his foreword writes, “This book is going to be providential to the younger generations as it recreates the ambience of Badal-da’s long creative journey. If not the man himself, who inspired me and my generation, this book will inspire the tenderfeet.”
The Sage publication delves on the performance styled invented by Sircar, his pioneering the Third Theatre, a physical, non-proscenium urban theatre form, his texts that inspired directors as they still continue to do so, his addressing of critical issues and, of course, his workshops which changed the perception of theatre in the subcontinent.
In an e mail interaction, Katyal, talks the book, the personality and more.
Edited excerpt of the interview:
How did the book come about?
I feel there is a lacuna in serious, research-based writing on theatre in India, particularly post-Independence theatre. Moreover, these influential and important theatre personalities, who have had a major impact on our cultural history, are in danger of being forgotten. What is worse is that the next generation will be deprived of the opportunity of learning from and being inspired by their work. It was this combination of impulsions that inspired me to write this book.
Also, Badal Sircar is a personal inspiration to me, as an artiste of quiet integrity and unswerving social commitment, who never sold out to media hype or sought the limelight, preferring to just do his work. That’s an increasingly rare quality. Such artists need to be honoured.
For an inventor of a performance style of his own, is Badal Sircar an under celebrated genius of Indian theatre?
I would use the word genius cautiously. The word to my mind indicates someone who creates or conceives something totally new. Badal Sircar was hugely talented, no doubt, but like many other artistes who shape an individual style, his work grew on and fed off influences, and built on what had gone before him. He would be the first person to disclaim genius status! Having said that, compared to his contribution as a playwright, a theorist of theatre and a mentor and trainer, yes, I do feel he is largely under-celebrated, although his value is acknowledged by many of those theatre practitioners who were lucky enough to see his work or interact with him.
In many ways Sircar who pioneered Third Theatre was a trail blazer and took theatre away from the rarefied atmosphere of auditoriums.
I totally agree. Street theatre was still nascent, though not non-existent, in India when Badal Sircar moved out of the proscenium in the early 1970s. It was directly political, mostly short poster plays without much emphasis on actor training or performance craft. Badal Sircar explored outdoor and non-proscenium theatre as an art form directed at social communication – he wanted to use this art form to question, challenge and conscientise. His Third Theatre was deeply thought-through as a concept and theory. His actors underwent workshop training, both in terms of technique and in terms of inner growth and evolution. In our country at the time, this was a departure for theatre. He may not have been totally alone in this endeavour, but he was definitely in the vanguard.
Where do you think theatre has lost out by not concentrating as much on street avatar as it could have?
Quality street theatre can be enormously exhilarating because it is not heavily dependent on funds or availability of performance venues and auditoriums. Therefore, it allows for experimentation and risk taking, and given the available technology, very innovative and unusual performances can emerge in public spaces. So yes, there is scope for a reinvention and fresh approach to theatre in the public space. India still has a huge population of people who cannot afford to pay for theatre, and also such a broad range of languages that it is a limitation to do theatre in any one language. Both these challenges can be overcome by public space performance, or, to give it it’s earlier name, street theatre. However, we should remember that all kinds of theatre have their own value and place in the tapestry of performance heritage in our country.
Sircar was not just a natural but an able theorist who defined theatre. Have we as theatre lovers done justice to what he stood for?
There are people all over the country who are working with the kind of values he propagated and they are doing so out of the limelight and are not getting the kind of media attention that mainstream or popular or the big institutions get. It is not that his work is not getting carried forward but a lot needs to done.
His workshops changed the way we perceived theatre. Yet today we see many theatre directors opting for on the run rehearsals in place of detailed workshops. Does it not affect the very purpose of theatre?
In my opinion, yes because theatre is as much about process as the end result. In any art form the actual doing of the art has to be as meaningful and challenging as the final product, whether it is a piece of music or visual art or whether it is theatre. If you take a short cut and you try to put something not thoroughly work-shopped or developed then you are losing half the value of the theatre.
Sircar emphasised on humour. However, understated humour is in short supply in Indian theatre. Have we lost the ability to laugh at ourselves?
Understated humour is in short supply or humour that makes your think is not easy to come by in our theatre. But the humour that makes us laugh at ourselves, broad comedy or poking fun at ourselves that does happen. For instance, slapstick goes down well. When humour tends to make the audience to look inward that is not so easy to find nor is it appreciated.
