A theatre-activist at night, a college lecturer by day, Sukanta Rout is as crazy about producing plays on the stage as cool in pursuing English literature in classrooms. Now placed at the Choudwar College, he has a bulging ensemble of amazing plays produced over last twenty-five years. Following an avant-garde style of blending realism with expressionism in fashioning his plays, he has earned the stature of a persona non-grata in the eyes of the traditional dramatist for going beyond grammar. In an interview to The Pioneer, Rout spoke to Sugyan Choudhury at the premises of the Rabindra Mandap, Bhubaneswar. Rout talks about notions of drama, present theatre scenario and his aspiration to make theatre win back affection of the theatre aficionados.
Why did you get fascinated for theatreIJ
I can’t remember when and how I forged a bond with drama and theatre. One day, I strangely found myself searching for that rare commodity that amused me as audience of theatre and film. Consequently, I stumbled upon what is the essence of intense drama that tempts me to visit theatre, listen to music and behold at work of a painter. Drama invariably underlies all works of art to the worth of the term.
How do you define the notion of dramaIJ
A thrill born out of the conjugation between fear and pity is called drama. It is a rare substance, i.e, more enthralling than the magic. Both the performer and the viewer are enchanted with it.
Can theatre survive the cutthroat competition with film and televisionIJ
Stage plays and theater have an advantage over other mode of entertainment that it stirs up a strange adrenaline in viewers through live action that cinema or soap opera could never afford to deliver in spite of all the money spent on making them. The fascination for live action in man is instinctive. Cinema or other media present the pallid image of the action captured in the camera. We have to reinterpret the notions of drama on the stage to woo the audience back to the auditorium.
What is the style you adopt in preparing a play for the stageIJ
I believe in doing away with props and sets on the stage to embellish the production. We can’t create appropriate locales as films on the stage. Besides, sets on the stage impede the flow of drama. The storyline keeps the audience obsessed all through the performance, leaving no space in his mind for seeing the sets. So, I blend realism with expressionism while modelling my plays for the stage. I have to bear the blame that I go beyond grammar. The play Gopapura based on the award-winning story by Dr Ramachandra Behera well demonstrates my way of moulding drama.
The story is about how a country couple embarks upon a boat trip along with their toddler son across a turbulent river in dead of night. It was a desperate voyage undertaken by the loving parents to take their ailing son to the doctor across the river and see him alive. The ferryman had retired soon due to downpour and chilly wind.
Sanatan almost drags and dumps stupefied Sumitra into the old ramshackle ferry boat and starts rowing it upon the breast of the river which was in fury. The boat was going to be carried away by the swift swirling water where to and where about Sanatan was not aware — may be towards the deep sea. Water pouring into the boat through holes, it would no more bear the burden of three people. Who would take a plunge into the diabolic water to have their son safely anchoring on the shoreIJ
Mostly expressionism, a little bit of realism rolled into one is the style this play was presented in at the Rabindra Mandap on the eve of the International Theatre Day two years ago. The play received rave review from the audience. All the scenes were enacted in the boat floating on the fast-moving water. An expressionist way of unfolding the scenes could magically charm the viewer into believing that they were truly beholding a perilous boat journey at night. It ran for more than an hour.