In this masterclass, Gowri Ramnarayan shares her experiences in writing, directing, designing and producing stage plays, and suggests ways of adapting and transforming theatre practises given the constraints of a global pandemic.
The session will invite dialogue on how to keep the fires of theatre burning, creating and sustaining pockets of community for parallel theatre and art through times of social distancing and lockdown, now and in the future.
The story starts with the Pandavas deciding to spend their time incognito in the kingdom of Matsya, till the time they decide to reveal themselves, but not before suffering another slew of sufferings and humiliations. A time which tests them to the extreme, but a test they must pass. A test which takes them to the battle–field without warning.
This masterclass focuses on how theatre has evolved and how it developed during different phases of time like Greek period, Roman period, mediaeval period renaissance Elizabethan restoration period and modern times and what was performance making process during all these ages, how design emerged and what was effect on performance. Similarly we will talk about how Indian classical has evolved to modern theatre.
It has been keenly observed that whenever an artist tries to build up their character they always either reach out to the written books or learn by implementing the same in practical life. But if we look closely then both methods keep the focus on timing, rhythm, pitch, emotion and tone equally which can also be achieved by music. Now the question arises, Is it possible to build a character by music?
Keeping that thought in mind Ishteyak khan will be focussing on this particular aspect in his masterclass – How to build a character with music (क्या हम संगीत से चरित्र निर्माण कर सकते हैं )
Akhilendra Mishra is an Indian film and television character actor best known for his role as Kroor Singh in Chandrakanta, Mirchi Seth in Sarfarosh. He also played the character of Arjan in the Academy Award nominated film Lagaan. He played the demon king Ravana in the Hindu epic Ramayana. In this masterclass, he will be talking about an actor, about the craft of acting and how spirituality plays a role in it.
“When I work on a play it’s important to me to know what is the single most important idea that drives it, and it is this idea which determines the approach to directing it”, says Sunil Shanbag, who has directed some of India’s most important contemporary plays. In this master class Sunil talks about some of his most iconic projects to show the different ways in which an idea is transformed into a production.
In this session Atul Satya Koushik, tries to bring out some of those aspects from the personality of Krishna which inspire today’s generation the most. He takes the audience through various stories related to Krishna and connects them with their questions and anxieties. What are the lessons on relationships management, environment protection, women empowerment and universal peace and brotherhood Krishna taught us by his actions becomes the crux of this session. Some thought stirring interpretations of the some popular shlokas of The Gita is the high point of this session.
We see light everywhere but we give less attention to it. In this world, Light has a major role in our daily life. Light just doesn’t help us to see things but it’s also an element which creates our state of mind. Light Designing is an art. It’s a combination of science and art. For the last 120 years, Light Designing has become an important element of performing art. Why is it so important? Let’s explore it.
Alok Chatterjee is an Indian theatre actor and director known for his theatre productions like Death of a Salesman and Nat Samrat. He has been teaching at NSD and Pune based FTII. He also taught acting in the institute of Anupam Kher, Actor Prepress in Mumbai. At present, Chatterjee, in Madhya Pradesh Natya Vidyalaya, is known for his vast range of acting (teaching) with deep literary understanding. He is a gold medalist from the National School of Drama, Delhi for best acting.Chatterjee does theatre in his hometown of Bhopal.