Editor

On the occasion of the seventh edition of Thespo, one of the most publicised youth festivals in India, Quasar Thakore Padamsee speaks to filmfestivals.com and eSTQ.

Q. You're the son of famous theatre parents? What's your early memories about the theatre? Late night rehearsals, hanging around back-stage, being allowed to play the fool? Mother memorising her lines while readying you for school?
A. My early memories of theatre are all about backstage. And peering through the wings. I remember being fascinated by torches and the gel papers backstage hands put on them to diffuse the light. I was told that once while sitting in the tech box during Death of A Salesman, when my mum playing Linda began to cry in the last scene, I apparently spoke out saying, "Don't cry mama, don't cry".

Q. And what about your own acting experiences ...
A. Once when I was in college and playing a bit part in a play at Sophia's an old bald gent came and stood next to me while I waited for my entrance. He peered at me strangely. I was a bit disconcerted. When I came back off stage he was still standing there. It turned out that when I was a little child, I would be handed to him while my mum had scenes, and then she would return to breast feed me. He remembered me from that time. Very strange, and yet beautiful. But since I left Bombay at the age of 8, for boarding school, my memories were not as many as supposed.

Q. Were you part of your dad's (Alyque Padamsee) production, ever? How do you evaluate them? For starts, they are larger than life and extravagant!
A. I've now worked in various capacities on quite few of dad's productions. It's been very different. It is totally in contrast to the kind of theatre I do, which is much smaller and less pomp, but his systems, energy and ability to get things done is quite remarkable.

Q. You were associated with Begum Sumroo and Evita?
A. On Begum Sumroo, I was basically a runner. It was the first time I had actually worked backstage in Bombay, and enjoyed it immensely. On Evita I learned and handle all the multi media stuff.
And finally our company, Q Theatre Productions, produced R&J, an Indianised but Shakespearean text version of Romeo and Juliet, which he directed.
At each phase, I learned something, not only about him, but also about myself.

Q. Is there a difference in working style and methodology?
A. I have grown up in experimental spaces while he is the master of proscenium. For me Sophia's, Andrews etc are still difficult areas to visualise in since I don't like using box sets and the like. However seeing him work and try and involve the last row at a space like the Tata is quite intriguing. I would love to have worked on his more experimental projects like Marat Saad (where the acting area was the entire floor of the Xavier's hall, while the audience watched from the surrounding gallery), Jesus Christ Superstar (which had a giant cross shaped ramp going over the audience's head) and Tarantula Tanzi in which the stage was a wrestling ring.

Q. As you know, I met AP for the first time, a few days, ago. We had a decent discussion about how the role of sutradahar has been denied its rightful place in history, the crafting of Girish Karnad's Tughlaq, the importance of Socratic enquiry and people's debates. Frankly speaking, I was pleasantly surprised. It made me wonder, has AP become a victim of his own iconic status? Be it: in his public utterances or plays?
A. AP (as I call him at rehearsal, or Dad as I call him at home) needs a hook when working. It is usual social based. However he is a strong believer that if you are to be a socially committed theatre person, you must be socially committed in life as well. Which explains all his social work with the Gujarat relief and the Zaheera case and the numerous PILs he files, etc.

Q. That first meeting was dramatic. He saved the life of a worker who slipped from the scaffolding unto the awning of his balcony.
A. He is dramatic in everything he does, life, advertising, plays. His take on the world and on life is to find an interpretation that people haven't found before. This extends to his theatre. Sometimes it works, sometimes it might get lost in the noise of the grandeur of production. I believe that an AP play is by its definition big and loud and grand, but he still manages to eke out time and do some small projects, like P Dialogues or a reading of Picasso's work etc.

Q. Returning to your own work. I really liked one of your first plays, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. It was raw, amateur, full of mistakes, but the spirit was right. For me, QTP hasn't been to revive that magic, thereafter. Why?
A. This seems to be our holy grail. I love working with first timers and new people. They aren't bogged down by expectations or the pressures of theatre norms. Unfortunately I think I might have become jaded in trying to achieve, rather than doing. Also the themes that have surrounded our lives have changed and which direction we want to experiment in, be it multi media, monologue, staging or the like.

Q. Any other problem area...
A. The other humongous problem (as I am discovering) is short rehearsal periods. I believe that every play goes through a graph during rehearsal. Rehearsals go through to two peaks. The first one is the obvious one when you think the play is good, then it becomes terrible before it gets better to a second and more stable peak. Unfortunately most rehearsal periods in Bombay are between 3 and 6 weeks long because of the commitments of people, late allocation of dates etc. This allows only for the first peak. However the voyage of discovery with a play should be at least 4 months, after the first rehearsal (including a one month break in between). This is what we were able to achieve with Thoreau, but have struggled to get with other productions.
However there is still work that we are incredibly proud of. Minorities, Lunch Girls, The Lucky Ones, Khatijabai are all triumphs for their different reasons.
Also as a company we have done almost 20 productions in only 6 years. That kind of workload, coupled with Thespo, does take its toll. Which is why I don't intend to direct anything new till Sept 2006.

Q. Last year, I saw a few plays, penned by the great gurus, which you hosted. Once upon a time, Indian English theatre had Pearl Padamsee. Then there was Rooky Dadachanji, who did a marvellous production of The Glass Menagerie. Recently, I saw some of Carl Mendes's work for a zonal parish competition. He has an imaginative stagecraft. Otherwise, as a rule, I find directors tend to botch up the play. Would you agree?
A. I would agree to a degree. One of the huge problems is we are director / producers. Where the financial burden often impedes creativity. This often leads to boxed in thinking. Couple that with the fact that the audience has to like it so it can at least cover some of the costs, and you have a recipe for clichés that will experiment in one direction but not another.

Q. I also saw most of the Writers Bloc plays. My worry is, we seem to have half decent writers, and slightly better actors, but where are the directors?
A. On the Writer's Bloc front, my personal belief is that the plays were not ready to be performed. They were hot off the press when they were thrust into the actors’ hands. I think had the festival been 6 months down the line, it might have worked better. Most directors suffered a knee jerk reaction, thinking up staging elements rather than letting it come out of the play. I know I was guilty of this. We got the completed act 2 four days before we opened. I had tons of fun having a writer in residence working with the actors, but more time would definitely have helped.

Q. What is your belief on direction?
A. My belief is that direction should put into three dimensions what the writer has in two. If the director can add to it great but it must come from within the play/text. It is the responsibility of the director to make the play better than it is on the page, but sometimes it is easier to leave a well written play alone. At the end of the day there is no substitute for a good text.

Q. Over to the 7th edition of Thespo. Happy? Worried?
A. Madly stressed. No money this year since our sponsor pulled out. We want to grow but need to find the funds to do this. But Thespo is what we live for, and the show must go on.

Q. Thespo is one of the few youth theatre movements which is organised by the youth. Other than showcasing young talent, what is the operating principle?
A. It started very simply. We left college looked around and realised that there was no place for young people to perform. Some of the plays we had seen were truly amazing. There is a lot of quality talent out there. Theatre had faded from the college activity front. At Xavier's we had to pay for rehearsal space to rehearse the college play. Outside, every institution we approached to perform (with Thoreau and other productions) said you guys aren't even 25! That pissed us off a bit. And we thought that there are ten of us together, imagine those who don't have a group. And so Thespo was born. Its aim was to get groups together and stage plays, but take it seriously. Not like the 2 week rehearsal processes that Malhar or Kaleidoscope require, but serious commitment. Thespo aims to recognise, encourage and promote the best that youth theatre has to offer.

Q. In 2005, Thespo completes seven years. It is sprawling what with multiple city centres, workshops, lifetime awards, etc. but considering the hype that surrounds the fest the quality of the plays still leave a lot to be desired. Would you agree?
A. Yes and no. Most of the performers are doing their first or second plays. So craft leaves a lot to be desired. However some of the ideas and concepts have been truly outstanding. Last year a version of Berkoff's The Trial left me feeling incredibly jealous as to why I couldn't be so imaginative. Final Rehearsal was a wonderful one man show that had some excellent ideas and as a piece of writing actually got to the core of what it means to be an actor. Pigs on the Wings is possible the most complete recently written three act written play I have seen Bombay. The Accidental Death of a Terrorist (adapted from Dario Fo's play) set boldly in the post Godhra carnage was incredibly biting of the Modi government. Some years we have very strong plays, and some years not. It’s similar to the 'professional' scene.

Q. Mumbai and Pune host innumerable youth fests and inter-collegiate drama competitions, every year. To what extent, does Thespo network with others? Are there any impediments?
A. Unfortunately we have been trying to get entries from Pune for many years now with no luck. The problem is Thespo is a thankless job. And you need to give a good part of the second half of the year solely to it. It is to create future stars of the theatre and give them the encouragement they need. We try and have presence at most college fests but we don't really have regular tie up with them.

Courtesy: e-stq, an Internet newsletter on theatre from Seagull Foundation for the Arts, Kolkata
(In conversation with Ramu Ramanathan. Quasar Thakore Padamsee can be contacted on qtp@vsnl.com)