Tapan Theatre becomes the first to reopen its stage

Kolkata: On October 1, Aneek became the first theatre group in the city to stage a production at an auditorium. Some 50-odd viewers were present at the Tapan Theatre on Sadananda Road. However, other private and government-run theatres in the city are yet to open their doors for stage production.
Arup Roy, secretary of Aneek and director of “Pirandello O Puppeteer” that was staged on October 1 is happy that they have been the first theatre group in the city to have returned to stage after chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s tweet.The last play that had been staged at Tapan Theatre was also by his group. “The last play we staged at Tapan Theatre was ‘Brahman’. We could have staged that play had some of the actors not been out of town. That’s why we decided to return with ‘Pirandello O Puppeteer’ on October 1. The excitement was palpable even amidst the audience,” he said.
Tea-seller Dipa Banerjee was also happy to return to the theatre after 198 days of closure. Just for the love of theatre, Tapan Theatre’s stage manager, Ajit Roy, even picked up a broom and swept the floor before welcoming the audience. “Aneek had staged ‘Brahman’ on March 16. Back then, Arup had told me that Aneek would want to be the first to stage a play here once the halls reopened. I have been associated with Tapan Theatre since 1974 and have worked with Utpal Dutt, Sombhu Mitra and Ajitesh Bandopadhyay. Never was our theatre shut for as long as six months,” he said.
The audience at Tapan Theatre for the show
At the venue, 20 members of the group, including 11 actors, were present. With a seating capacity of 750 spread between the ground floor and balcony, it wasn’t difficult to maintain social distancing. “If couple turned up, they sat together. Otherwise, there was ample space to sit. Not just thermal gun, the hall officials even bought a new metal detector. The rental charges of the hall was Rs 7,000. We could collect Rs 6,000 for the first show. Considering it was the first show, this was a good start,” said Abhijit Sengupta, joint secretary of Aneek.
However, other theatres in the city have still not opened their doors. Theatre practitioner Debesh Chattopadhyay has got in touch with other theatres but he is yet to get a green signal on the standard operating procedure. “In the central government notification, 50% occupancy has been allowed with a ceiling of 200 people. We need to rework on the logistics and redraw hall charts with revised seating arrangement. A new hall chart has been drawn up for the Academy of Fine Arts with a hall capacity of 37%. I plan to start staging a play in November,” said Chattopadhyay.
Kallol Bose, joint secretary of the Academy, is sending out letters to 120 theatre groups, inviting them for a meeting on October 11, where this hall chart will be discussed along with other issues. “Our total seating capacity is 730 with 472 seats on the ground floor and 258 in the balcony. The proposed occupancy comes to 270 if there is a gap of five feet between viewers,” Bose said.