What drama

Other states would do well to follow Bareilly’s unique theatre model.

A theatre festival with plays from different parts of the country; a long queue at the entrance to the auditorium; the venue packed beyond capacity with some people forced to leave disappointed; a battery of media persons; hoardings in the city announcing the theatre festival; a plethora of newspapers vying with each other to cover the event, providing space in the city pages as well as page one of different publications. This could well be a scene from Mumbai or Kolkata where there’s a theatre-going culture. One might even think of this scene at a theatre festival in Delhi where audiences for the medium have been growing consistently.

This, however, is Bareilly (UP) where a 10-day theatre festival was recently underway, initiated, interestingly, by a practising orthopedic surgeon who is passionate about theatre and wants fellow citizens to share his passion.

A culture of theatre in many cities is conspicuous by its absence, and more so in the Hindi belt partly because this region has not developed industrially — modern theatre is, after all, an urban phenomenon. Also, this region hardly has any commercial enterprises that would risk taking on theatre as a business venture. Theatre, therefore, has remained sporadic and theatre artistes are considered socially suspect and dysfunctional. In a scenario like this, and in a city like Bareilly, it is nothing short of a miracle that Dr Brajeshwar Singh, who nurtured his passion for theatre by travelling to Delhi for several theatre festivals, taking time out from his hectic schedule as a doctor, all the while dreaming of eventually creating this facility in his own city. In the course of four years, he has managed to establish the national theatre festival in Bareilly as an annual event in its cultural calendar. The charitable Daya Drishti Foundation, along with organising free camps for eye treatment, blood donation and spreading awareness about Thalassemia, has taken on this festival and managed to rope in sponsors for the event too. This year, the foundation has also launched the Rang Vinayak Repertory. What’s more, Dr Singh also plans to construct an auditorium to facilitate better productions in the city. This too seems an urgent necessity given the unsuitability of the auditorium where the present festival was hosted, which has practically no depth, no side wings, poor lights, and so on.

The Rang Vinayak Daya Drishti Theatre Festival 2010 featured 11 plays in nine days. These plays were largely from Delhi and Mumbai, and included professional repertory companies from these cities. The selection of plays was done intelligently for a new audience, keeping a balance of serious content with simple presentation and strong performances. Almost every day — despite the organisers having to arrange additional rows of chairs and sofas for guests — a large number of people sat on the floor in the aisles and sometimes even stood whereever they could. However, there were others who had to return because there was just no space to accommodate them.

While this is a revolution of sorts, other states could do well to follow the unique model of private initiative showcased in Bareilly. It is essential, especially if we want to provide space for thought provoking, meaningful and participatory live entertainment. Kudos to the team of Daya Drishti Foundation and may it grow from strength to strength.

(Kirti Jain is a former director at the National School of Drama)