Bhopal: The 15-day Bhopal chapter of 8Th Theatre Olympics that concluded on Wednesday gave theatre lovers reason to rejoice and memories to cherish. In all 28 theatrical productions including national and international were staged between March 14 and 28. It also hosted a national seminar on ‘Practice of Natyashashtra’ and other allied events such as ‘Master Class’ and ‘Living Legend’ during the event.
Free Press spoke to some artistes and theatre enthusiasts and they were in all praise as they got an opportunity to see national as well as international plays in the city. However, some of them felt that local theatre was neglected as they were not given any space in the festival. Excerpts:
HD: bridging boundaries, theatre forms from across world brought under one roof: Artistes
Nitin Tejraj
We always get to see Indian plays in Bhopal, but it was for the first time that we got a chance to see some foreign plays, which formed an important part of the fest. I love the non-verbal play ‘Under Construction’ from Isarel. It was experimental. Though the play had no dialogue, it communicated with audience very well through the powerful performance of its three actors and the props. And it proves that Israel is not only No.1 in technology but also in theatre. The major drawback of the fest was that organiser ignored local artistes completely. It is big question that the state culture department spent Rs 1 crore in the fest but local artistes couldn’t get any benefit from it. Besides, the management was also poor as eminent artist Mohan Agashe had to come to Bharat Bhawan hiring an auto for master class.
Tariq Dad
It was good effort, but failed to attract the audience. The whole festival was dull. In such a big fest, only one or two plays were houseful, the rest were dull. It seems that some of the plays got entry by backdoor. Not only local theatre but also artistes and audience were neglected. Had they included local theatre, the fest could have been better and successful. And artistes could have learnt a lot.
Saulatyar Khan
It was good. I could not watch the all plays in the fest due to some personal work. A Hindi play ‘Aakash,’ directed by Bahrul Islam mesmerised me a lot. Everything including acting, direction, sets was ultimate. Another non-verbal play ‘Under Construction’ was superb. We got chance to learn many small things like how can we do good theatre using less props. Such type fest should be organised.
Aishwarya Tiwari
It was good experience for me. We got chance to see varieties of plays and pattern across world in the same place. We also got chance to meet well-know actors and directors. We observed small things. Besides acting classes, we could also learn things by watching plays. Indeed it was really true to its tagline ‘flag of friendship’- . The plays inspired me so much that I wrote review of two hours plays and summarised them in poems in five minutes and posted on FB. I got huge response from netizens. A Hindi play ‘Aadi Katha’ attracted me a lot. Very experimental, good effort but failed to attract audience: Theatre lovers
Dolly Tiwari, social worker
It was so so. It was experimental festival. No doubt, it was good initiative but it failed to attract the audience. I saw almost all plays, but it was up to Olympics standard. Some of the plays disappointed me a lot. Besides plays, management in the fest was very poor and casual. Most of the people didn’t keep their phones on silent inside the auditorium that disturbed the audiences a lot. Also, the master class was not very satisfactory. It made the youth confused. Ye puri tarah se khanpurti thee.
Sunil Joshi, tourist consultant
It was fantastic experience. Everything was perfect. I live in Patel Nagar but I used to come to watch the plays after office hours directly along with my wife. Every play was meaningful and sends out social message. A Hindi play ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’ was very good.
KVS Rana, professional
It was good. Such type of fest should be organised so that we could know the level of theatre across the world. Not only Indian, we got chance top watch some foreign plays too. I like a play ‘Barrister Parvateesham’ and ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’.
Satish Malviya, student
It was very good experience. We got chance to learn a lot. I love the non-verbal French play ‘The Lonely Room’. The timing in the play was perfect. Italian play was also good. The master class was also good but I couldn’t attend all classes due to lack publicity.
