How will theatre fraternity survive when there are no evening shows, no ease on occupancy limits, no clear permissions to get back on stage?

In July, when the government announced post lockdown guidelines that included relaxations on restrictions for different entertainment sectors, one of those who heaved a sigh of relief was the theatre fraternity. They had permission to resume shows at 50% occupancy. But with curfew hours in Bengaluru set at 10 pm, which was then advanced to 9 pm, their hopes were dashed just as soon. The changed hours and guidelines brought in confusion and a pause to theatre activities.

‘Advancing evening show timings to be able to meet the city’s daily deadline is just not working out for us’
The usual staging hours on weekdays at most venues across the city is after 7 pm. With a 9 pm deadline, the onus of staging a play and ensuring the audience has enough time to return home, lands on the production team and the venue. Archana Shyam, from Antharanga, rues over the fact that these changing guidelines play spoilsport to the efforts. “It takes months of effort and investment to put together productions. Many theatrepersons are waiting to get back on stage, but these changing guidelines have made it hard. Some venues thought of advancing the timings, but these have eventually not been feasible as not many people are free to watch plays as early as
5.30 pm on weekdays.”
Yet another theatre arena,

Ranga Shankara

, had resorted to staging open-air plays for a while. The venue, which was to begin staging indoor productions this weekend, has had to change plans. “We had plans of hosting multiple troupes, but those are in limbo now. The guidelines make it hard to have our usual weekly functioning hours. We have since decided to have only two matinee shows on the weekend,” shares theatreperson

Arundhati

Nag, who runs the venue.


‘The current situation does not help pay for the effort and investment going into staging a play’
Post lockdown, theatre arenas are keen to stage new productions that will compel audiences to return to the halls. Theatre productions, in turn, put in the effort to work on new scripts, spend hours every day at rehearsals and invest in the various requirements to put together a fab live production on stage. But with restricted timings over and above the restricted occupancy limits, the fraternity is wondering if the effort put in is worth it at all. Arundhati explains, “We are not a business like the paan-wala, who can afford to have the shutter down for a day and then resume business as normal the next day. Theatre involves a lot more effort and planning; delays and confusions like these affects it. We are already living in a world devoid of trust following the pandemic. The government might have the greater good in focus, but the restrictions imposed need to be uniform for all.”
Additionally, Archana questions, “When weddings can have big guest lists, considering the amount of safety precautions theatre arenas are following, why are we not given any
leeway?”


Theatre productions stuck amid government orders on restrictions
“We usually rehearse at

Ravindra Kalakshetra

for our productions, but since that was closed, we had to rent a space for `300 per hour. We were to perform on August 17 and 18, and began focusing on set design, poster printing and promotions. Sadly, on August 10, we were told that now that the shows are postponed until further notice. The Government did not announce a closure of theatres, but the revised curfew time has put us in a fix,” explains

Srinivas Beesetty

, theatre director whose production now stands cancelled.