?Indian theatre has gained popularity?

INDIAN THEATRE is passing through a ?bright? phase and is being eulogised in the international arena, National School of Drama Director Devendra Raj Ankur has observed.

INDIAN THEATRE is passing through a ‘bright’ phase and is being eulogised in the international arena, National School of Drama Director Devendra Raj Ankur has observed.

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“The decade of 70s was a dry period for the theatre with the percolation of films. In the 80s again the theatre passed through a phase of rough weather because of leaning towards Doordarshan. But today the theatre audience has increased manifold”, Ankur told the Hindustan Times.

Ankur was in Bhopal as chief guest for drama fest organised by the Ravindra Amateur Natya Group of Rajesh Bhadoria.  Maintaining that the Asian theatre, in particular the Indian theatre, had gained popularity worldwide he said, “This was primarily because the West has witnessed a technological revolution of gargantuan proportion. They, therefore, have an urge  for simple theatre devoid of technological interventions.”

Several collaborative efforts were underway between different countries in the field of drama and theatre and the after effect of globalisation and liberalisation had led to exchange of good artistic work, he said.

On whether television and films had  trimmed  down the theatre audience he said, “The satisfaction that one gets by watching a good theatre cannot be attained through any other platform.”

On what changes he had proposed for NSD he said new courses like children theatre and script writing should be introduced for specialisation within the next two years. Besides, he said the three-year course could be extended to five years.
Underlining the need to have more of such campuses he said, “When there can be so many IITs and IIMs, then why can’t we have more NSDs.”

Conceding that people were still apprehensive about sending their children to theatre he said, “Theatre has never been able to become a profession. It can be pursued only as a side activity.”

Over whether marketing was important for theatre he said, “This varies from individual to individual. If earning money is important then of course marketing plays a pivotal role.”

Asked whether training was vital for theatre artistes he said, “Unlike films, training is a very essential ingredient for theatre artistes.”

On what constituted the vital statistics for a ‘good’ theatre work he said anything that evaporates tension and bonds strongly with the audience would be categorised as good.