The Hindu Business Line : High on drama

Nearly 52 years ago, The Madras Players was formed in Chennai “by a group of likeminded people working for theatre as a hobby that was also a passion,” says P.C. Ramakrishna, doyen of Chennai theatre. He began his journey with The Madras Players in 1969.

In 2003, two marketing students from Mudra Institute of Communications - Ahmedabad, Sunil Vishnu and Karthik Kumar, set up Evam Entertainment, a company dedicated to theatre. This was done after an in-depth study as part of their post-graduation thesis titled, ‘Feasibility of a business model with theatre as its product’.

“When I love something, why can’t I make money out of it,” says Sunil Vishnu, Director, Evam Entertainment, which does make profits. This slow but steady transformation of theatre-as-a-hobby to theatre-as-a-fulltime activity speaks volumes about the changing theatre landscape in Chennai.

“The theatre scene in Chennai is alive and well. There are more groups than ever before offering varied genres and styles, so that gives audiences more to chose from,” says Freddy Koikaran of Stagefright productions. “For a long time, any play used to do only three shows which meant not more than 1,200 viewers. Today we are doing 30 shows and more,” highlights Evam’s Vishnu. Their longest-running play, Phython Hysterria, did 20 shows in Chennai and 10 shows in cities like Coimbatore, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Of the nearly 240 productions of Madras Players, the longest running one is Five Point Someone staged in 2007. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Chetan Bhagat and directed by 26-year-old Nikhila Kesavan, the play “has done more than 15 shows and it is still travelling,” says Ramakrishna.

Professionals with no theatre background are also entering its realm. Says Nikhila, “In Five Point Someone, the sets were designed and executed by architect-designer Mahesh Radhakrishnan and costumes by designer Anaka Narayanan. Both had not worked in theatre earlier. I enjoy bringing such professionals into theatre as they bring in new perspectives.”

Works of younger playwrights and city-based writers, Indian themes and issues, variety of genres including musicals, short plays, monologues, supper theatre, etc are being performed on the Chennai stage more than ever before. Stagefright Productions staged a musical, Grease, in 2004, “which brought together acting, live singing, live music and dancing on stage,” says Koikaran. “Another interesting experiment was staging Five of Hearts (2006) which was a collection of five romantic comedies set in a coffee shop. The idea was to take the audience through a 90-100 minute ride that went up and down and up and down, rather than making the audience wait for one-and-a-half hours for the ending.”

“Pantomime, the annual Christmas play produced by The Little Theatre, opens to packed seven shows,” says Vishnu. Evam has staged nearly 20-plus supper theatre shows for HSBC and other companies. Ramakrishna describes the 1970s as a watershed period for the Madras Players, who were used to presenting British, American and European plays. “The plays of Vijay Tendulkar, Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sircar, Girish Karnad became available, and our focus shifted. Thereafter, our thrust has been on presenting English plays on Indian themes.” Added to that, “Chennai-based playwrights like Tim Murari, Chetan Shah, Shreekumar Varma, Anushka Ravishankar, Anupama Chandrasekhar, etc, have been regularly presented. We are arguably the group in India to have presented the largest number of Indian plays in English. The quality of plays compare favourably with those in the past. Technology is certainly superior and younger actors have much more to draw from by way of performance and literature.” Even better news for the Chennai theatre scene is its own annual theatre fest — The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival. “This attracts almost 10,000 people over 12 shows, and creates an atmosphere where theatre is alive in the city. A big media house supporting it is a boon,” says Vishnu.

Challenges

The Little Theatre's pantomime show

Yet, behind all the action and the high levels of adrenalin on and off stage, Chennai theatre continues to fight many challenges. “Cost! Cost! Cost!” rues Ramakrishna. “Sponsorship is very difficult. Most corporates are not able to measure return on investment from theatre.”

Koikaran says a show that needs a large multi-storeyed set, with elaborate lighting, is unaffordable.

“With each production costing an average of nearly Rs 2.5 lakh, a marketing budget of Rs 50,000, sustaining a play requires judicious financial planning,” says Vishnu. That is why, before zeroing down on a script they evaluate if the “production will be scalable and can be staged in other cities too.”

“Sponsorship is very difficult for theatre. It is important to deliver marketing value to the sponsor and bring relevant brands closer to a consumer,” feels Vishnu. Theatre is livelihood for Evam, which has been successful in striking long-term relationships with Royal Sundaram and Airtel. They have staged 185 shows across 14 plays in four years. He says, “Sponsors seek value for their money and do not see theatre as a ‘cause’ to be supported anymore. We give them a promise and make sure we can deliver.” Their target audience is “18-40 years, fun-loving, outgoing. The set of people who can relate to Barista Coffee and multiplexes, relate to Evam.”

But, says Koikaran, “theatre tends to attract an upmarket, niche audience, and although their numbers may not run into the thousands, (for example, two performances at the Museum Theatre may attract 700-800 people) they are often upwardly mobile and have the purchasing power to utilise sponsors’ products or services. And yet, many potential sponsors seem to look beyond this crucial aspect of the audience and prefer instead to focus on the number of people who come for theatre shows.”

Moreover, plays produced in Delhi, Mumbai or Bangalore are chosen more often to perform in overseas markets. They even witness houseful shows in Chennai. “Mumbai and the North generally tend to look down at artistic offerings from the South, though I do believe we do more meaningful work in theatre,” says Ramakrishna. Vishnu feels that it is the “rarity and star-attraction that entice audiences. A Mandira Bedi or Lillete Dubey play does well in Chennai as people want to go and watch them.”

For a vocation that is non-remunerative, how does it attract talent? Koikaran feels that the talent pool in Chennai is in a constant state of flux, because people rarely commit themselves wholeheartedly to theatre. “It is not yet the most feasible vocation to be engaged in fulltime, so most people are not dedicating enough time and effort to train themselves in the acting and technical aspects,” he mentions.

Adds Nikhila, who is employed fulltime and took nearly two years to adapt and direct Five Point Someone, “it’s not easy to have a full-time job and do theatre. Mere enthusiasm is not enough. One should have a mad passion and so much more to engage in professional theatre.”

Groups often rehearse during early mornings or late evening after a long day at work. “My actors are from Infosys, Satyam etc, so we rehearse 6–8.30 a.m. and again from 7 p.m.,” says Vishnu. Koikaran says that this elongates the production period and “instead of staging a show in one month, we take three months instead and ask people to come when they are free and not dictate when they should.”

No trainers

'Five Point Someone' staged by The Madras Players.

Another huge challenge is that “trained actors are few and training workshops are not enough”, says Vishnu. Koikaran too feels that there is an absolute lack of training workshops conducted in the city to nurture talent. He adds, “Unfortunately, many workshops that happen today are conducted by people who are not necessarily authorities on technical aspects or who do not necessarily have sufficient experience to be talking about histrionics.”

Ramakrishna adds that the Madras Players do conduct workshops frequently and recently concluded a three-month theatre course at two schools in Chennai. “There is a need for training in Chennai but not too many qualified trainers,” he avers.

While, there is a Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai and Bangalore boasts of a Ranga Shankara, Chennai still lacks a space specifically dedicated to this performing art. Rehearsals continue to be conducted at terraces depending on benevolence of friends who may have large places, within confines of small rooms at homes where voice projection is a hindrance or business places that are empty after working hours. Only one day is devoted to a technical rehearsal — a phenomenon making it difficult for actors “to get a hang of the metre of the play,” says Vishnu.

Koikaran feels the reason is, “perhaps the right person with the right contacts hasn’t stepped forward as yet. I’m sure that if a civic-minded person or group of people set their minds to it, they could pool their resources and come up with a space that is simple, cost-efficient, and available to all.”

Vishnu comments, “It doesn’t matter though it would be a huge help.” Currently, Evam is not working in that direction, “may be 10 years from now”, he says.

“Many theatre groups just come up with one production in a year,” says Vishnu. He feels that “habituating people to watch more plays by offering them a wider menu and higher frequency is what Chennai theatre needs today. Audiences want to come.”

“The audience exists, but it looks like theatre groups are yet to derive the formula that will bring them running to their shows. Admittedly, part of that stems from the fact that production costs are high,” says Koikaran. “If institutions or organisations of any type — corporate or educational — can step forward as patrons, this would also help theatre to progress. Theatre needs to become an industry that is active seven days a week, and not just on weekends, as a distraction or pastime.”

Is anybody listening?

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