Getting the campus act together

Certain colleges in the city foster the tradition of theatre. ELIZABETH ROY talks to students and traces the campus stage scene as it has evolved over the years.

IT IS appallingly difficult to do theatre. It is perhaps the hardest medium of all: It is merciless; there is no room for error, or for waste. Peter Brooks said, "A novel can survive the reader who skips pages or entire chapters. The audience, apt to change from pleasure to boredom in a wink, can be irrevocably lost. Two hours is a short time and an eternity: to use two hours of public time is fine art".

And the art is beginning to proliferate in the city. One has never seen so much theatre; almost every week there is some form of theatre happening in some part of the city. We have a large number of theatre groups with their varied ideologies, performing styles and socio-economic compositions, all managing to stay alive and active. And all of who have as their mainstay and worker and actor population, our college students.

I talked to a cross section of students from colleges that have a tradition of campus theatre and some who come from colleges (mostly professional) where theatre does not enjoy priority.

Anusha Mahalingam, the president of the Stella Maris College Student's Union, feels theatre on campus is a privilege and a valuable learning experience. "I learned a great deal working backstage." However, she feels that "theatre should be an ongoing activity and it's important that we share it with the general public, particularly if we can do socially relevant plays by Indian playwrights". The major drawback is the large-scale apathy and lack of involvement. Remya Abraham, a second year student agrees with her wholeheartedly. She points out that by and large interest in theatre is limited to performing on stage. Theatre training, team work or even thinking through and analysis of the experience don't seem to fit into the scheme of things.

For 30-odd years now, whenever theatre has happened in Stella Maris College it has enjoyed the solid support of the management. Chennai can remember good plays from them such as "The Diary of Ann Frank", "Man for All Seasons", "Chalk Garden" and most recently "The Sunshine Boys".

Then you have a serious enthusiast like Krupasagar Sridharan (of Velammal Engineering College) who is hopelessly passionate about theatre, and who has successfully proved his hand at directing, acting, time and again working backstage. "On my campus theatre does not exist. Maybe because there is too much to do academically... Students could do well with the experience, it can lend a lot to professional life. In terms of both audience and active participation college could be very good for theatre."

It is perhaps Women's Christian College that enjoys the longest and richest tradition of campus theatre. What started out in the 1940s as earnest theatre (mostly Shakespeare) turned into a thoroughly professional venture by the 1950s in the hands of an American missionary Dr. Bertha Corfield. The annual college play turned into a six-month training in theatre practice. In addition to experience in theatre, students came away with leadership skills, better developed personalities, experience in handling people, business and front of the house management.

Except for some basic help from carpenters the students made the flats, painted and put together sets. They researched and stitched the costumes, made the sound contraptions (always played live), put together props, learned character makeup and the art of highlighting, and even operated the lights... Their productions range from Shakespeare to T. S. Elliott to Noel Coward, and from Bhavabhuti to Mohan Rakhesh to Mahesh Dattani.

There were special rooms in WCC to stack and store flats, props and costumes, which were reused and recycled. As a result the productions were not only appreciated but were outrageously low- cost, and even earned money for the college's endowment fund. Unfortunately the tradition changed with the times. The college play has become an 'event'. Directors are invited from outside, carpenters, tailors, makeup artists and lights technicians come in to do a professional job. Productions have become expensive and not very viable.

Loyola College started their tradition along similar lines with support from the management around 1969 when they set up the Loyola Amateur Dramatic Society, which evolved into the Loyola Theatre Society (LTS) around 1980. In his final year, Michael Muthu stepped in as director. What followed were a series of Woody Allen plays. The LTS - Michael Muthu nexus continue though Muthu has a well-established group of his own, The Board Walkers. "LTS was a major deciding factor for campus theatre - we were the first to commercialise it and bring it to public notice. We had press ads, hoardings, sponsorship and set up the LTS Benefit Fund to provide scholarships to deserving students." The LTS years in Loyola had Muthu a complete captive and he wanted to do nothing else in life. Plans are on the boards for a Board Walkers School of Theatre, which mainly hopes to target college students.

In the Madras Christian College (Tambaram) the tradition began with entertaining staff plays, which in course of time became a sporadic activity that nevertheless showcased student talent. As the years rolled by, except for the odd big production like Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1980s their theatre stayed on campus and physically out of reach of the city.

Theatre as an ongoing activity becomes easy when the institution has an auditorium with facilities for play production and very much easier when the auditorium was purpose designed and built primarily for theatre, as in the case of the Women's Christian College. That goes a long way in containing expenses. Rather than wait for the impossible to happen campus theatres should take up the challenge of looking for alternative acting spaces: undulations with potential for green stages, quadrangles and lavish verandahs, steps round grand old buildings (that most campuses have) and even open terraces with shaggy tree tops shaking at them.

At the end of the day what matters is not whether there are sponsors or sets or digital Dolby sound mixers. There must be that something extra - the body and the voice, the unbeatable tools that an actor can hone to perfection, with which he or she can communicate anything to the audience. Theatre is beyond technology and technique. Every campus theatre may well be the perfect laboratory to experiment and learn about life skills, opening windows in the minds of the young and helping them perceive things afresh and differently. It takes theatre beyond the stage or actor or audience into the art of living itself - a smithy where culture is shaped. So the actors can later inspire any wider group they work with.

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