Girish Karnad. Pic Courtesy/Instagram; Wikimedia Commons

Judge and Saran have been working with the two batches for the last six weeks trying to coax and gain an understanding of the 12th batch’s objectives. Judge shares, “Especially because they are young actors and theatre makers, I thought it would be interesting to work with the beautiful powerful text by Girish Karnad. In trying to arrive together, take it apart, and put it back together.”

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Judge will be setting Karnad’s play in a modern context, ‘an undetermined future’. “Like any good play, it is complex and has so many themes and motifs that are as relevant and urgent as anything you could write today. At least the first week was about reading the text, exploring and improvising about it. There were huge debates and contradictions,” she reveals.

Irawati Karnik; Aa rehearsal of Mitti Ki Gaadi; Sapan Saran (in pink) directs students

Saran, who will be taking on Shudraka’s text, remarks, “A classic comes with its set of challenges and excitement. Mricchakatika is a text that is ancient, distant and removed from our present reality yet so close to the bone in its politics and social consciousness. How does a contemporary artiste converse with such a text without changing its context? This was my single most important entry point for this production for the students.”

The choice of the plays by the directors is also a happy accident, Karnik remarks. She says, “They are both classics. There is a kind of coherence that we do not always push the directors on; but when it happens, it can be fun.”

While the productions are an opportunity for students to put their craft into practice, it is also a chance for the directors to explore their own understanding of the text. Judge notes, “I have learned everything I know by making plays. It is the environment in which you can apply your complete self.” Saran adds, “Working with young actors offers a huge learning curve to directors. In training them one gets trained.”

For Karnik, the exercise of working with directors outside the faculty is a key part of shaping the students’ stagecraft. “The directors’ responsibility is not to train the students as much as challenge them and arrive at a competent place of fulfillment,” she points out. A task easily accomplished considering the layered motifs and themes of the complex plays. As the students set about applying the final touches, Judge remarks, “I am more interested in the rehearsal, and the process of rehearsal. Shows become something when the audience comes in. I am excited because the audience is a huge part of what we do, and I am looking forward to that shift.”

Agni Aur Barkha
ON Today; 6 pm and 9 pm  
Mitti Ki Gaadi
ON April 16, 19; 6 pm and 9 pm
AT Drama School of Mumbai, Girgaon.
ENTRY FREE

Agni Aur Barkha
ON April 17; 6 pm and 9 pm 
Mitti Ki Gaadi
ON April 18; 6 pm and 9 pm 
AT Veda Kunba Theatre, Andheri West. LOG ON TO insider.in 
COST Rs 200 onwards