“Only one Ranga Shankara isn’t enough”

Surekha Kadapa-Bose

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“Theatre in India is starved of affordable, practical and professionally managed venues. One of the only two other good theatres I know is Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru”, says Kunal Kapoor, who has been successfully running the iconic Prithvi Theatre of Mumbai. The woman behind Ranga Shankara is theatre artiste and actor Arundhati Nag, who after the death of her actor-director husband Shankar Nag, struggled to establish this dream space of the duo in 2004.

Winner of several awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (2008), Padma Shri (2010) and National Film Award (2010), the actor is a veritable powerhouse of theatre activity in India. With more than four decades of association in multiple language theatre, which includes plays in Hindi, Marathi, English, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, besides Kannada, Nag doesn’t mince words when talking about her world. Excerpts from an interview:

At a time when films and television are wooing audience in droves, how is theatre surviving?

The theatre is surviving thanks to the content of the play. If that is superlative, relevant for all times and is well-written with good performances by actors, the word of mouth praise plus sometimes nostalgia helps a play survive for decades.

Do we have any such plays in Kannada?

Several. There are plays like Hayavadana, Jokumaraswamy, Mukhya Mantri, Mysore Mallige and many others, which with a change of actors and directors, have been staged for more than four decades. Many are clocking more than 1,000 shows. Several plays get translated into other languages and have had equally successful runs.

Are there any plays of yours?

One of these Odakalu Bimba, written and directed by the Girish Karnad, was translated in Hindi as Bikhre Bimb and in English as Broken Images. It has been running for more than 150 shows now. I didn’t act in the English version. In one version Arundhati Raja did. It has been staged all over India. The English version in which Shabana Azmi acted was adapted by Alyque Padamsee. It was even staged in London.

Are theatres seeing a good footfall?

At Ranga Shankara, we have a seating capacity of 320 persons. In a year, we stage more than 300 plays in several languages. Very rarely does any seat go vacant.

Is this enough to keep theatre going?

Only one Ranga Shankara, a Jagriti or Prithvi Theatre space will not bring the needed money. Our tickets aren’t priced high. A constant complaint we hear from our audience is that they wished there were more theatre spaces in their cities to help reduce the commuting time to watch a play.

Why watch a play when films and television are so glamorous?

Theatre is alive! No retakes here. Everything is spontaneous. And at any time, a live performance will be more exciting and loved. Instant audience reaction exalts a performer.

What is the theatre scene abroad?

After working for films for two years at a stretch, many Hollywood actors take a break of at least a year and act on stage to polish their acting skills. Actors like Daniel Radcliff, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench regularly do theatre. That makes theatre a very strong platform.

What is its position in our country?

We need stars from the silver screen to descend on stage. We have actors like Naseeruddin Shah with his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, Shabana Azmi, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon and very few others doing active theatre. But to woo audience, they should do good quality theatre. Shahs are doing really good theatre.

With the ticket price remaining the same, how will the money come in?

Increased popularity will get more and bigger sponsors, media coverage and this, in turn, will benefit us.