Theatre is life

SUSMITHA RAMASWAMY

What is "theatre"? One eminent theatre personality said that theatre was a mirror of nature. This was what Nihar Nanjundaiah and his team went on to prove at the theatre workshop organised by The Hindu, as a part of its Newspaper in Education programme. Held recently at National Junior School, Bangalore, on August 28 and 29, the workshop had as many as 24 students from 12 city schools participating.

Theatre is a medium through which one can educate the masses, entertain them, bring about awareness and share thoughts and ideas. It has an effect on society. In other words, theatre is a responsibility. Though most of participants had taken part in innumerable plays, this idea struck a strong note.

The workshop started off with simple exercises depicting "tension" and "energy".

Situations were given and the participants had to enact them with body movement and facial expressions only. The first day thus, was entirely devoted to the basics of theatre. Walking on different kinds of imaginary surfaces was an interesting act. Participants had to imagine surfaces and walk on it accordingly.

The first day ended with the entire group enacting a plot around a prop. This was done without dialogues. Entertaining and captivating, even the teachers joined in.

The second day's exercises were centered around "trust" and "team work". As a part of this, one participant had to lead another who was blind - folded, from the fourth floor to the ground floor and back again. Some of the non-participating students of the host school also took part in it. The participants learnt to make lamp shades using old paint cans, bulbs and coloured paper. When the teams successfully finished making the lights and saw them functioning, their joy knew no bounds.

"Acting is a passion for me. This workshop will help me use techniques of acting that will better my performance" is how a teacher put it. "It was great," was the univocal reaction of the participants.

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