Bharat Dabholkar: Online plays take away the charm of theatre

The

new year

is well underway and things are expected to come back to the way they were even more in the new normal. While cinemas have opened to 100 per cent capacity, when it comes to theatre,

plays

too have begun to be staged, albeit with safety norms like

social distancing

and sanitisation. While 50 per cent

audience

is allowed now, adman and

theatre

director Bharat Dabholkar is feeling positive about the situation becoming better soon. He says, “I feel things will be fine in the next month or so. Lots of plays are already being staged in several places and auditorium

sanitisation

, etc is being carried out.”
For most of 2020 - due to the lockdown and after - with theatres shut, a few

online

plays did make their way across platforms. But Bharat says that simply cannot match the real experience of watching a

play

in a theatre. He adds, “Yes, so far there have been a few online plays, but I feel that the charm of theatre lies in seeing a thing live on stage. Seeing it online is just like watching a film or TV show and it takes away the basic premise on which theatre works. When you go and watch a play, it’s live and 10 feet away from you and that makes it special, so it’s great to have plays back.”