They say that walls tell stories, especially if they’ve been around for a while and have borne witness to all sorts of lives and events. The mill, christened Black Box Okhla, with its double height ceiling, situated in Okhla phase 2, seems just right for a play because it tells a story using space. Here, Nikhil Mehta, founder and artistic director, talks about the theatre; The Shakuntala Project , the first performance here; and why the story must often be crafted within the space to make sense.
Why did you start Black Box Okhla?
One of my biggest frustrations of working in Delhi was the pressure to put everything together and make it come together over three days. The nature of theatre is that it takes time to settle in. With one day to put the whole set together and only three days of performance, you are just not able to create something, with no time to explore it, which was pretty distressing.
Why is space such an integral part of the process?
Nikhil Mehta
Nikhil Mehta
Space and environment are the only things that differentiate our story-telling films or TV. It’s a communal feeling of people coming together experiencing something together and if we can’t control elements of the space, we have lost one of the most integral things about theatre. Actors relate to space and time and tell stories with their bodies. I could only reclaim that space, that environment if I was sitting in it.
What’s different about BBO?
The technology, and by that I don’t mean anything hi-fi. Everything used in Shakuntala is very basic equipment used around the world for running a show. All our lights are programmed through a computer. There were about 70 to 80 cues for lights in the show that were all triggered through a preset that we had made over 10 days of rehearsals with the lights. Super standard procedure all around the world: to imbue your show with a sense of specificity as well as to have some steadiness to the look across the performance.
There were several themes to The Shakuntala Project . What were they?
As a director, I was super interested in tracking a story of two people where there is an underlying depth of relation between these two and a connection, which is very established. They go through a journey both on the surface where there’s a lot being spoken about, but also underneath, they go on a similar, but different articulation of the journey. As a director, I was excited to play at those different levels. The actors have been unbelievable – the kind of rigour that they displayed has been phenomenal.
How did The Shakuntala Project come out?
For a first play in this space, I didn’t want to do a Western play or an adaptation. I wanted to figure out what a contemporary language for Indian theatre could be. So for the first play here, I felt it was necessary to start with one of our oldest and most profound texts, Shakultala. How do we work with Shakuntala today? How we make her come to life? If we break it down into the seven acts, you’ll find all in here.
What is your vision for theatre in Delhi?
My goal is for shows to run for a long time in Delhi. I think weekend-only runs has completely destroyed theatre culture in India. It makes theatre unsustainable and budgets for shows very small, because the revenue is consequently smaller, which is why the first things to get the cut are usually scenic design, lighting design. We should not dissociate these from theatre. They often happen because there is a culture of shows only running for three days. When shows run a month, it makes it worth the effort to look and feel a particular level. They can also be sustainable then.
