A seminar titled Actor at vanishing point, at the 19th edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav saw eminent as well as emerging personalities from the field of drama from around the world.
The discussion on Actor at the Vanishing Point had Himani Shivpuri, Anagha Deshpande and Alok Chatterjee as its speakers and Kusum Haider as chair of the event.
Looking rather nostalgic being at her alma mater Himani Shivpuri said, "Some directors give more importance to design and decoration and undermine the actor, who carries the text forward. In cinema, director is the most important and television’s hero is the script but stage depends on the actor basically. The day the actor comes at vanishing point; theatre will become a circus and its soul will disappear."
Anagha Deshpande expressed her worries regarding the theatre performances without an actor. She said, “There is no need to keep the drama under the dominance of literature as it is an independent art. If you decrease the role of an actor from the drama then it is not actor but the theatre at a vanishing point.”
Stressing on the prominence of language in theatre, actor Alok Chatterjee, added , "Actors have given up reading poetry and don’t have a strong grip over language which is weakening this medium. However theatre is still alive. Design, set, light, costume and other tools are a decoration but the actor is the soul of the theatre and can never be eliminated."
The context of second session of the same event was Actor & Design contributing to which Amba Sanyal said she believes the relationship between the director, designer and the actor is very important to express the design on stage because if there is a lack of mutual understanding and absence of similar vision, the stage becomes stale.
Talking about how growing up amidst the prevalent vices of the society makes the vices seem natural, eminent theatre personality Probir Guha said, "artificial culture stops our growth, especially in terms of creative thinking, while in scenography, it is important to grow out of the boundaries to create something new and free."
Actors are one of the most important parts because they communicate with the audience and convey the message whereas the design sort of creates the ambience for the experience. The deep connection between the actor and design is something which makes or breaks the performance
Nissar Allana, Artistic Director of the Dramatic Arts and Design Academy, concluded the talk saying, "Scenography comes from a western tradition which is about 2000 years old and came to us around 150 years ago, so it is quite new concept in our culture which is still yet to be fully discovered."
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