Stepping into a completely new decade by default desires newer achievements. That is exactly what Thespo has planned for the eve of New Year. Into its 11th year, Thespo, one of India’s largest youth theatre festivals, will usher in the season of discovering newer avenues to make theatre more accessible and youth-friendly.One of the oldest members of the organisation, Toral Shah says that this year will be especially marked by several workshops conducted by international theatre groups, and the good news is that all of the workshops are absolutely free of cost.
Toral decodes their plans, “Our biggest achievements this year is roping in international theatre groups to conduct workshops as part of the Thespo festival. It was only earlier this year that I was at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, and that is where we started talking to other groups for this collaboration. It will be our effort to integrate professional theatre with school level training in performance arts across continents.”
Apart from professional theatre, Thespo members admit that theatre workshops feature strong on its agenda in the country. Toral points out that across cities like Mumbai, Pune and Delhi, young theatre enthusiasts are more than willing to try their hand at the art.
The focus of the year is more on the technical aspects of theatre, which makes it better news for those who shy away from the spotlight on the stage.
From shadow theatre, set design, lighting, Shakespeare and a lot of music, Thespo promises to be the theatre enthusiast’s delight. And this year’s theme of‘Theatre Under Bahaar’ focuses on making the experience more eclectic. Thespo, according to Toral, is trying to make actors stop depending just on their good looks to score brownie points with the audience. She opines, “A production must not depend on just the actor. It is a holistic experience we want to see on stage.”
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