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Curtain call: The hybrid show of “White Rabbit Red Rabbit”
Last week, I had written about the play “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” written by the Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour
Last week, I had written about the play “White Rabbit Red Rabbit” written by the Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour. We were getting ready to perform the Marathi version of the show on March 13. It was part of a global event, wherein the play was performed in nearly thirty languages all over the world at exactly 8 pm local time on March 13 as all theatres were shut down in Europe exactly a year back and most of them are yet to re-open. The event was a tribute to them.
Considering this, the original producers of the play had suggested more than one way to perform the show. The first was, of course, in the original form, wherever it was possible. This included booking a theatre, selling tickets and performing in front of a live audience.
The second way was to conduct a performance on Zoom. The writer had modified the script for such a performance and had sent it across. The third way was to have a hybrid performance – a mix of the first two methods wherein the play is performed in front of an audience and is streamed live.
A comprehensive handbook was prepared by the producers covering all aspects of the performance in all three ways. An online workshop was also conducted nearly ten days before the show. They had a few snippets of how the performance will be conducted on Zoom. If possible, the performer was also asked to have a helper around her/ him with whom the stage manager could co-ordinate the show.
After reading all of this and also after seeing the snippets of a show conducted on Zoom, I felt more inclined towards producing it in its original, traditional format. A performance on Zoom, while convenient to almost everyone involved, comes with its fair share of troubles including, but not limited to, poor internet connection leading to delays in give and take with the audience. But the most important thing I felt was that there was a disconnect with the audience, which would have hampered the impact of the play.
I spoke to Pushkaraj Chirputkar, who is an excellent and reliable actor (and most importantly someone who hadn’t watched the play before!) and asked if he would like to perform it. He is actually very busy with a television series and is occupied for almost all day, every day. But he agreed almost immediately! It would have been easier for him to just sit at home after his daily shoot and perform on Zoom. But he understood what I was going for and drove down from Mumbai immediately after shooting and left for an early morning shift almost immediately after the performance! Now you must have realised why I describe him as ‘reliable’.
The profits of the show were to be donated to a charity of our choice. So, we decided to perform the show at my house instead of booking a theatre, to save costs. We created a makeshift theatre. It worked out fine and even the place looked set for an intimate performance. The only drawback of this move is that I might be inclined to organise more and more shows here instead of going out to watch a performance!
We invited around ten people to watch the show live and also to be a part of the interaction that the play required. Nearly thirty odd people joined the live stream from all parts of the world.
After a few initial technical hiccups, the performance began as planned. I had watched it twice or thrice before and was aware that every performance is different. For the first few minutes I was consumed by the technical difficulties and continued to watch the play while shooting it. But even I didn’t realize when I became an audience member. The intimate setting worked beautifully for this text. Amongst other things, the play deals with suicide. So, after the show we had organised a Zoom call for any audience member who wanted to just talk or be with someone after watching the play. Many members of the audience joined the call, but fortunately none of them felt adversely and we discussed the play instead, like an audience would, outside the theatre, after watching a play.
After everything was wrapped up, we poured ourselves a drink to celebrate a night of pure theatre, before people left hurriedly to reach home before curfew started.
Photo caption: Pushkaraj Chirputkar getting ready for the play “White Rabbit Red Rabbit”.
