THE WEBINAR SERIES BY NANDANIK, A THEATRE GROUP IN KORAPUT, FOCUSED ON THE PRACTICE OF SCENOGRAPHY IN INDIA
Bureau,Odishabarta
KORAPUT:The third of the webinar series by Nandanik, a theatre group based in Koraput, Odisha focused on the practice of scenography in India. Prof Satyabrata Rout, eminent theatre director , SNA Awardee and Faculty of University of Hyderabad and Shri Debesh Chattopadhyay, eminent film & theatre director deliberated on the aspect.
Prof Rout explained the theoretical concept of scenography as a lexicon of visual in theatre, referring to Chari in Natyashastra. He refered to several plays to describe the spatial arrangements in theatre and how Indian scenography emerged from rituals which are a part of the oriental tradition. He cited the works of stalwarts like Brecht, Artaud, Tijan Bai and Richard Schechner to name a few. He compared the concepts of ‘shunya agar’ of Natyashastra to the ‘empty space’ of Peter Brook and stressed on the imaginative aspect of Indian theatre and the necessity to evoke space by an actor. He also described the metaphysical space drawing references from hindu mythology.
Shri Debesh Chattopadhyay started off with elaborating the imaginative aspect of theatre citing Tagore’s article Rangamancha. He explained the concepts of realism and its deviation in art. Drawing examples from his own works like Sher Afghan, Debi Sarpamasta, Karubasona and Machi, based on texts of Pirandello, Manoj Mitra, Jibonanda Das & Sartre, he asserted scenography as the biological synthesis of elements of theatre.
In the interactive sessions, extremely informative and rich inputs were shared by leading theatre exponents like Shri Subodh Patnaik, Dr Deepan Sivaraman, Dr Gagan Deep, Arijit Roy to name a few. Students & Research Scholars of universities like JNU, Rabindra Bharati, Visva Bharati and Mumbai University also asked questions. Faculty-researchers like Dr Sarat Jena and Dr Mangesh Bansod were also present.
The session was moderated by Dr Sourav Gupta and technically supported by Monideepa Gupta, founders of Nandanik who have been organizing the webinar series during the COVID-19 outbreak. 54 people from different states of India had participated.
