Tathagata ChowdhuryINDIA
Title of Piece: ESHALA
Duration: 41m 52s
Short Description
The power dynamics between a teacher and a student, surfacing during the pandemic, is what this production tried to explore. The student is well versed with technology. The teacher is a subject expert but is technology challenged. The teacher’s assistant, waking up to the demands of online education, encourages the teacher to initiate online classes.
The audience is then treated to an online theatrical voyage where we experience a power struggle and then eventual manipulation of the experienced facilitator.
This production is inspired by an Ionesco play, The Lesson.
Title of Piece: THE SILENT JUDGMENT
Duration: 40m 15s
Short Description
A group of young actors get together to discuss the possibility of performing Vijay Tendulkar’s Silence! the Court Is In Session!
The topic of the burning issue Of Boys’ Locker Room that sent shivers down the spine during early Covid days. Here, the young student acting as Benare was made accountable for living the life of a woman she decides and not follows the social norms.
Theatrecian had the permission from Tendulkar’s granddaughter to perform the interpretation on zoom.
Ishani performed as Benare with Zahid, Alratim, Anushka, Arush, Anushree, Aaron, Supratim performing the other characters.
Curatorial Note
#1 – The Lesson
The covid pandemic presented itself as a challenge to be defied if art forms had to survive through. The artist’s pioneering work of channelizing the medium of online platforms to perform theatre is revitalizing the agility of creative endeavour and creating new digital theatre viewing experience.
As much as the medium is decisively explored, so is the theme of the play. The dynamics of online education, the power struggle between teacher and student on behest of technological tussle is as real as it can get. The stupendous performances of the actors are in concordance to the tight playwrights scripting that reflects the sociological prevalence.
#2 – The Silent Judgement
Sociologically reflexive, steeped into the current newscast that gripped the nation, the adapted play exposes and dissects the scaffold of the society’s build-up. The play takes into account microcosms to the society’s judgement of gender characterization and discrimination of women. Due to restrictions that the pandemic imposed, life functioned through data exchange in web wirings. It thus exposed itself in a fathomable display. The play is insightful of human behaviour and relationship dynamics disseminated through an online meeting platform. The topic suited the medium which is otherwise defying its usual form requiring a live audience.
Biography
Tathagata Chowdhury
The founder of Theatrecian, which the BBC 4 in 2007 declared as the most prolific youth theatre company in the country. In 2006, TC, as he’s addressed by his friends and in the theatre community, represented India in a Theatre Science project in Plymouth and London. In 2014, he represented the country in South Asian Theatre Festival in Ohio with the award winning production, The Mumbai Zoo.
He has produced around 200 plays in the last couple of decades, since the inception of Theatrecian and has been on stage as an actor nearly 1000 times, across the country.
The 40 year old was the first in Calcutta to teach Theatre Studies which the CBSE board introduced in 2014. He’s now the head of department of Film Studies in Pathways World School, Aravali.
During the pandemic, in 2020, TC and his team at Theatrecian was one of the first (as reported in the Times Of India) to perform online plays and post lockdown, at the Akshara Theatre, in November last month, live performances in theatre, revived with his directorial ventures.
He’s been the recipient of Best Actor and Best Script awards, at the Kalakranti Theatre Festivals.