Director Bipin Kumar says that experiments in theatre should be done keeping the audience in mind. He speaks to S S Balan on how he uses visuals to attract the people's attention
The stage is neat and colourful, illustrating a feminist view point in a subtle sense. The play turns on a tense note which is sustained until the narrative reaches the denouement. Director Bipin Kumar’s play Ab Aur Nahi, presented on the opening day of the Poorvotar Rang Utsav at the National School of Drama, did not deviate from his usual style. The play was a visually and emotionally appealing experience.
Ab Aur Nahi is based on the script of Asif Ali Haider Khan, and is inspired by Romeo and Juliet. “But it can’t be said that the play is based on the Shakespearean classic. At present people don’t get impressed by such stories. The play is a love story, but it’s also about the tension that exists between the people in the Northeast and the migrants,” says Kumar.
The director’s language is visuals. Kumar feels it’s important to attract the common man to theatre. “I am not against theatrical experiments. Someone rightly called theatre a movement and the basis of this movement is the creativity that is generated from the social and cultural impact on the particular society that the art originates from. But experiments should not be for yourself — for the directors — it should attract the common man,” he says. An alumnus of NSD he has directed around 32 plays in various Indian languages with different theatre groups. He loves to experiment and defy the odds. “I am someone who experiments with visuals, images. Designs are also very important for me. I explain to everyone; the actors and the technicians through drawings what I need. I would continue till I get the desired result. It’s a long process and takes time,” says the director who is self-assured.
The characters in the play speak three languages, which is yet another experiment of the director. “The play is happening in Sikkim. The characters who act as local people speak Nepali. Those who act as migrants use Hindi and there is English in between for the audience, from any state, to understand the dialogues. It’s based on the script,” he says.
Presently working as camp director at NSD, Sikkim Theatre Training Centre, Gangtok, his major directorial works include Yayati, based on the script written by Girish Karnad which has won him much critical acclaim. Kumar’s other works are Pagala Ghora, Asadh Ka Ek Din, Biyaban Main Ugtey Kinshuk, Hemlet in Chhotanagpuri, to name a few. His plays are mostly women-centric. Women are the troubleshooters in most of them. “Yes, my plays explore the power of women. But they are about man-woman relation as well,” he says.
Kumar, who has conducted several theatre workshops in different states, was also the board member of School of Performing and Visual Arts. He founded Kshitij Theatre Group, in New Delhi and has been associated with it since 1987. He observes that theatre is popular in cities, but not in small towns. “Theatre should reinvent itself to communicate with masses. It should be lively,” he says.