The iconic theatre youth festival, Thespo 16 reached
the Day 3 mark and continued to entertain, educate and enthral the theatre
wallahs. After a thoughtful reminiscence to the 16 December Delhi rape incident
the previous day, Day 3’s flavour was out of the box and filled with youthful
spirits.
The energy at Prithvi Theatre was contagious when the day
began with Josephine Joy’s workshop ‘Out of the Box’ where the UK based
performer and deviser shared innumerable ways of creating movement and sound
for unconventional performance spaces. She amazed the young theatre enthusiasts
with nuances of how to tell stories without speaking; breaking the boundaries
of traditional theatre set ups and exploring what one can do outside of a black
box studio. Also Kaizad Gherda, grade 8 western classical pianist trained from
the Royal School of Music offered a deep understanding of music for theatre and
shared some trade secrets of applying various styles, themes and scales of
performance in his workshop, ‘Understanding Music for Theatre’.
As the sun went down, Meera Shenoy’s favourite folk, jazz
and blues numbers reverberated all across the quintessential venue. Her
melodies gave way to a film screening of its kind when Alliance Francaise Bombay
presented 'Ariane Mnouchkine - L'Aventure du Theatre du Soleil' (1974) where
Director Catherine Vilpoux recounted the noteworthy journey of veteran French
stage director Ariane Mnouchkine, her inspirations, her dreams for the theatre,
her love of cinema and most of all her unique and extraordinary bond with
audiences.
Soon, Halifax theatre artist Gillian Clark took to the stage
with her platform comedy act, ‘Understudy’ about a nine year old boy named
Dylan who is on a journey of self acceptance after he has clearly been miscast
as Sheep #11/ Wiseman #1. The show features Shakespeare, Shakira and Sequins
and stands out while presenting a unique perspective of nine years old Dylan
deftly told by Clark.
Before theatre lovers and performers could call it a day,
they witnessed a play inspired by Malala Yousufzai’s life, Tomar Dake performed
by Kolkata’s Theatre Shine. It portrayed a hard-hitting picture of social
injustice in north and west Asian countries and serves as a call to break the
monarchy that tramples upon human rights in the name of democracy.
Day 4 has in store a delectable mix of performances and
experiences, each getting better by the day. Besides two workshops ‘Speak the
Speech by Shernaz Patel’ and ‘Understanding Music for Theatre by Kaizad Gherda’,
there is a fringe performance ‘Avyakt’ by Natakwalahs who present an intriguing
and unexpected conversation between a retired school clerk and a stranger. Some
flavours of the fervent Marathi theatre
will come to life with a platform performance ‘Happy Endings’ where the
protagonist takes matters in his own hands to ensure he gets his happy ending
unlike most other life situations, and
‘Castle of Glass’, a play that weaves together a delicately intense tale
of artist Kumar Devdhar. Add to that Bass guitarist, singer and songwriter
Vivek Date’s evening rock and roll renditions that are sure to add another
distinct colour to the much awaited day 4.
The 16th edition of Thespo, the annual drama festival for
theatre-wallahs below the age of 25 is taking place from 15th to 21st December
2014. Organized by QTP, under the aegis of Theatre Group Bombay, it will be
taking place in two venues this year: the iconic Prithvi Theatre, which has
been the home of Thespo since 2008, and Sitara Studio, the city’s latest indie
cultural space that used to stage Marathi plays back in the 1970s. The
festival, this year, is centered on the theme ‘Plug-In to the Tamasha’.
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