Lady Shriram College

Drama in the Campus

From Brecht to Sartre, from Camus to Chugtai to Barrie Keefe, from Manto to Ariel Dorfman, Mahesh Dattani to Mastrosimone, Pirandello to Improvisaed pieces, College dramatics societies have done it all, Says Kuljeet Singh, theatre critic and lecturer in English Literature, Khalsa College, New Delhi.

Lets take a look.

DRAMA.

Yes, its actually happening…from Street Theatre to Stage Productions to Theatre Festivals, campus is rocking with theatrical extravaganza. As they call it, “Its not happening, its seen that its happening”, adheres with the situation. Most of the colleges are organising and participating in Inter college drama competitions.

SRCC, Kamla Nehru College, LSR, Hansraj , Khalsa, St. Stephens, KMC, Maitreyi, CBS, Hindu, Gargi, Ramjas, Miranda and many other not-in-the-campus colleges have their in-house productions especially designed to meet the University Inter college norms.

“The allotted duration cut-to-cut is 40 minutes in most of the colleges…exceeding the time limit means negative marking and at times disqualifying from the competition”, stresses Ravinder Singh, Secretary, dramatics Society, Khalsa College.

More than twenty-five Inter college theatre competitions take place in one session, starting from mid September to January in and out of the campus. Original scripts, Adaptations, Translations and Improvisations are all tried and tested in these festivals in Hindi, English and sometimes bilingually. Some of the colleges even have separate days and categories for plays in Hindi and English. Hitrionica 2006, a theatre fest by Sri Ram College of Commerce was a four-day event, which started on 8th November with Street theatre and followed by Hindi Stage Play and English Stage Play on November 9 and 10. The denouement of the event took place with a Professional Play Performance followed by Prize distribution on November 11.

Occasions of this sort enable the college students to meet performers from other colleges as well at times in bad spirit. “ Everyone of us desire to win and people of our age get carried away…there is this lurking burden of winning as our authorities also expect awards”, admits Jithin S George, director of Venkateshwara’s play “No Exit”.

Theatre practitioners and scholars are invited to adjudge these events.

“ I have discomfort with this word ‘competiton’…I think there should be festival instead”, shares Ravi Shanker, Creative Director, Atelier Theatre, a Delhi based theatre group. Shanker strongly “emphasise on the need to replace the positive spirit of theatre rather than encouraging the competition” in the campus and elsewhere.  

For College goers, these are the days they remember and they miss.
Ask them how they manage classrooms along with the art, the instant reply is “working 24x7 is the mantra.”

“I start from my hostel at 7.30 in the morning. Try to attend most of the classes…at times also miss many and after that we rehearse for the production till late evenings”, confesses Parlov, a student actor.

College theatre is not only about preparing a play. Like any theatre group, finding rehearsal space, funds for costumes, sets and properties and other logistics are of equal importance if not more.

“ Official permissions seldom break the rhythm. A piece of paper to be signed by the authority for every single thing, which we have to use in the play is something, nobody likes to do…we waste time in the entire process”, aggressively puts up Ashok (name changed), a second year student of Delhi University’ college.
“ After all we are doing it for college only”, adds Sumanta.

From three-four-college-theatre-groups like Players and Shakespearean Society to a good number of colleges participating in these events, amidst all the conflicts and pressure, Campus Theatre has grown and evolved in the last five years or so, not only in terms of regularity but also producing content oriented quality performances.

Hope to see better ones in future.
Good for thy art. Good for my art.     

The Venkateswara College Team

Venkateshwara College

Three damned souls Joseph John, Supriya Roy and Shwetal Kamlapurkar are brought to the same room in hell by a mysterious Valet. They had all expected medieval torture devices to punish them for eternity but instead find a plain room furnished in Second Empire style. None of them will admit the reason for their damnation: Joseph says that he was executed for being a pacifist, while Shwetal insists that a mistake has been made.

Playwright : Jean Paul Sartre
Director : Jithin S George

Gargi College (Photograph not received from the team)

Shak

‘Shak’ is an adaptation of English play ‘SUS’ by Barrie Keefe. Shak is a testimony to communal profiting. The play is essentially political, an outcry not just against communalism but also against emerging neo-fascism. It leaves the audience wondering that how easily laws are moulded to suit the ideologies of people in power when they develop a sense of security in the top wrung of the hierarchical ladder.

Adaptation and Direction: Swati Budhwar

Lady Shriram College

Eight

It is said that the only one who can see the complete picture is the one steps out of the frame. But every human being is struck in this frame, confined in this enclosed boundary and no matter how much ever one tries, he can never step out.
Malti believes she can.
Eight – the age of innocence
Eight – the sign of infinity
Eight – no beginning, no end
Eight – a time to act
Eight – LSR’s self scripted play with an unusual culmination questioning the possibility of escaping consequences.

Director: Shilpi Gulati

Hansraj College

Thirty Days in September

30 Days in September is a play by Mahesh Dattani that depicts a brutally honest portrayal of child abuse. The play revolves around a young girl’s repeated sexual abuse by her uncle and the brittle relationship that results between a mother in denial and her betrayed daughter. It also focuses on how the trauma of childhood abuse dominates her adult relationships in future, as she drifts from one affair to another, first seeking attention and then hating it. The play merges scenes of abuse she recalls from her childhood and then focusing on the present with a determined boyfriend who refuses to accept that their relationship is over.

Director: Aman Chand

Students of Miranda College on Stage

Miranda House

Laji

The one-act play Laji is a self-scripted and self-directed play and has been highly appreciated in several colleges. Based on a true story, it brings to the forefront the atrocities state commits under the mask of authority. It makes the audience think and redefine the definition of "terror". What is terror and who are the real terrorists? who decides it? Should we let the state play dirty politics and utilise the word "terrorists" for gratifying its own needs and greeds? Who is the real threat to human kind? The so termed 'terrorists'? Then what should be said about those who terrify general people and use their power and post to their own advantage? Are they any better?
The play raises such questions people themselves are the ultimate sufferers, they themselves will have to put an end to the prevailing injustices.
The struggle for justice is not an easy one and often the repercussions are far more heart- ripping than imagined but Laji wont give up! She will fight back - for herself, her daughter, for the entire womanhood.

Director: Jeevant Rampal

Sri Ram College of Commerce

I thought of something Poetic

Stuck indoors in the downpour, the protagonist is confronted with the reality of spending expensive hours with the overbearing mother. This bleak prospect is broken only when by his poetry and the visits of a vivacious young girl for her tuition. What follows is a foray into nature of freedom, of liberation – and of an individual’s response to it. As the mother’s presence becomes more and more overwhelming and the rain refuses to stop, claustrophobia sets in and the play unfolds in a strange and unsettling manner.

Director: Shagun Khare and the cast.