THEATRE WORKERS UNITE NOT TO LOSE HOPE IN A VIRTUAL DISCUSSION BY NANDANIK
II ODISHABARTA II
KORAPUT:The second webinar of the COVID-19 Webinar Series organized by Nandanik took place today on the topic, Theatre & Alternative Space: Post Covid Possibilities and it was hosted from Koraput in Odisha. Probir Guha and Subodh Patnaik, the two thespians of Theatre were the principal resource persons who deliberated on the issue along with an interactive session with the other participants who also belonged to the theatre community. The session was moderated by Dr. Sourav Gupta, Director of Nandanik.
Guha, a thespian and SNA awardee explained the problematic situation and the threat to theatre during and after the COVID-19. He made it very clear that under the circumstances theatre has to chart a different route as digital productions can never be a suitable alternative to live and physical theatre.
Patnaik, an eminent director & playwright also narrated his experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic from a victim’s perspective and drawing reference from the recent talk by NSD director Suresh Sharma also echoed Guha’s opinion. He suggested a few possible ways of how digital media may be used to take theatre to people for the time being. He also stressed that instead of expecting the government to do something the theatre workers should innovate ways of doing theatre for satiating the creative thirst and also from a professional perspective.
In the interactive session theatre workers expressed concerns over problems of doing theatre especially due to restrictions imposed for COVID-19, the future of theatre, shift from conventional proscenium to alternative spaces that conform to the rules of distancing and many more related issues. Those who actively participated included Dr. Mangesh Bansod & Dr. Surabhi Biplove from Maharashtra, Dr. Rabindra Das & Dr. Sarat Jena from Visva Bharati, Shantiniketan, Shriman Mishra, Manoj Rath & Himanshu Ranjan Mohanty from Odisha, Anshuman Bhowmik, Raja Bhattacharya & Arijit Roy from West Bengal, to name a few.
Nandanik has started the webinar series to address the issues of Theatre during the pandemic as a counseling of mental trauma that the artists undergo as the performances are closed down. The first of the series on Theatre and Space was held on 3rd May 2020.
64 participants from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tripura, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and New Delhi took part in the webinar.
