‘The Clearing’ sparks debate in Bangalore

July 22, 2010 :: Related project: NCBS Residency and Plays

On 24 and 25 June the Alliance Française was packed for performances of ‘The Clearing’ by Gautum Raja. First developed at the Theatrescience/ART Residency at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in 2009, and dramaturgically supported by Jeff Teare, ‘The Clearing’ explored the impact of the invasive plant lantana, and the lives of those affected by it.

Staged as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of Mallya Aditi International School, of which Gautam is an ex-student, the play was performed by members of the Artistes’ Repertory Theatre (Ruchika Chanana, Sukhita Aiyar, Siddharth Rao, Maitri Gopalakrishna, Harish Seshadri and Jagdish Raja) and directed by Arundhati Raja. 

Both shows were extremely well-attended, with the first night at full capacity, and after each show the audience joined in lively discussions about the issues raised in the play. Dr Suhel Quader, who first spoke to Theatrescience about Lantana at NCBS, was present at the first discussion and spoke eloquently on the pros and cons of conservation – who for? What exactly is being ‘conserved’?  - with longtime Theatrescience collaborator Dr Mukund Thattai standing in for Suhel on the second night.

It was widely agreed that all the performances were strong, especially Harish’s as Marappa and Jagu’s as the Anglophile grandfather. Ruchika gave Vinita a suitably Bangalorian veneer, Sukhita ably suggested Roshni’s (the NGO officer) somewhat mixed motivations, Maitri inhabited the ‘tribal’ girl’s character (Shanti) well especially in terms of her ambition to leave the forest and somewhat Machiavellian nature and Siddharth (‘Sid’) captured Ramesh’s lop-sided scientific enthusiasm and charm extremely well. The show was efficiently stage-managed by Nikhil Bharadwaj and Devaraja V. with set design by Sridhara Murthy G. J. and costumes by Sankhirti Aipanjiguly. Lighting was by Arun Murthy and the effective music was by Tara Kini (who, along with Arundhati, Jagdish, Mukund, Sukhi, Ruchika and Harish, attended Theatrescience’s first workshop in Bangalore in 2006).

All in all a major success for ART, and by reflection Theatrescience, and, once again, a lesson in our function of asking questions and offering possibilities but not giving answers.

A film of excerpts from the show can be viewed in the Media section of our website.

Photograph by John Fernandes

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