Putting up any production can be most daunting for most theatre practitioners in India. It is customary for most Indian directors who many times, run small amateur theatre groups to not only foot all bills but also look after the needs of the artists involved. The most challenging of this cost is that of the auditoriums. Most proscenium auditoriums in Delhi and Gurgaon can cost anywhere between 15,000 ( around $220) to 1,00,000 ( around $950) depending on its size and capacity. Furthermore, there is a long waiting list to get the required dates, most weekends getting booked almost a year ahead! Hence, the supply versus the demand is either beyond one’s means or it requires tremendous patience for the group to perform.

The need for finding alternate spaces for performances hence is rapidly growing which is being met to some extent by a few in India. There are several around Mumbai but here the article will focus on two spaces created. The first one in that of the group, Rang Parivartan, in the growing rich cosmopolitan Gurgaon created by Mahesh Vasistha and the second one , the Teesri Manjil, of Ruchika Theatre group, created by Feisal Alkazi in South Delhi. It is important to focus on these two spaces, as the city of Delhi besides being the capital of India, is the Mecca of theatre training, while Mumbai largely focuses on film production and the thriving industry of Bollywood.

Delhi, has been timelessly known for its intense theatre training that is both affordable and also provides the correct knowledge to the aspiring actors. The prestigious National School of Drama is situated here, along with Sri Ram Centre, the school of Arts and Aesthetics at Jawaharlal Nehru University that offers not only the masters course in performance studies but also a Ph.D in theatre and also the newly formed Ambedkar University that offers bachelors and masters in Performance studies are also located here. Besides this we also have an a diploma course offered in theatre by Indira Gandhi Open University, that is lesser than $25 for six months, as an distance program.

As training in theatre is of high value in Delhi, there is a need for students to experience the stage as much as possible. It becomes impossible for students to do theatre without the experience of a stage,lights or sets. Both Mahesh Vashistha and Feisal Alkazi have found the answers and that too within their own homes! Both these thespians have created beautiful auditoriums within the upper floors of their homes. Both these spaces are intimate and are not open for the public, which in other words means is not for commercial gains but rather for training and also for holding small intimate shows for a discerning audience.

Feisal is of the opinion that one must allow theatre to enter homes and allow the audience to become a part of his large family. He says, ‘ Most actors have been with me for as much as 25 years and above and they have been an integral part of my life, hence I see new audiences as the same. I am just extending the Teesri Manjil,or my third floor to my family who should not be taken as some disconnected people.’ Radhika Alkazi echoes much the same as she receives each one of her guests with warmth and enthusiasm and both she and her son Arman take immense joy in serving each guests fresh home made kebab rolls, biryani and wine.

Mahesh Vashistha whose students have painstakingly made the auditorium with him extends his performance space free of charge to theatre practitioners not only across Delhi and Gurgaon but anyone who wishes to perform there. Both these auditoriums might seem like one as small steps but careful attention has been given both by Feisal and Mahesh regarding the technicals of an auditorium. Feisal has painstakingly thought of the lighting ( having over 20 set lights including pars and LEDS and a dimmer) and the correct sound proofing of the stage. Mahesh has not only kept the lights and stage setting in mind but has also kept the make up rooms in mind of the actors, and also has carefully insulated the place.

It is heartening to see such magic being created and to be lucky even to have open access to these performance spaces. Such free flowing needs based training venues are going to bring more thespians to do the same with their homes. This will make as Feisal wishes and does, a family of theatre and not mere disconnected spectators who come and do not feel the intimacy of theatre due to the daunting presence of the mighty auditoriums.

The informal performance spaces have come up because theater is becoming un-affordable because of lack of revenue and astronomical cost of auditorium spaces in Delhi. Leaving you images of some of these spaces which offer hope for survival of Amateur theatre in Delhi. More about it in the next piece by Gouri Nilakantan

9th March 2019. The Glittering night of Natsamrat Theatre Awards. This was the most memorable moment of that year for StageBuzz Ed, Manohar Khushalani To be Awarded The 2019 Natsamrat Best Theatre Critic Award. It was indeed a fulfilling moment and an acknowledgement of his decades of consistent and persistent work as a critic for Pioneer (Column: Foot Lights), Mid Day (Culture Cocktail) and of course StageBuzz (Editor). The Award Ceremony was Organised by Shri Shyam Kumar, who is the driving force of the event . Well Known thespian Jaidev Taneja was the Chief Guest

Winners of the 11th Natsamrat Theatre Awards:
Best Writer – Danish Iqbal
Best Director – Kichenassamy Madavane
Best Actor – Mohit Tripathi
Best Actress – Mona Chawla
Best Back-stage (Lights) – Himanshu B. Joshi
Best Critic – Manohar Khushalani
Lifetime Achievement – Feisal Alkazi
Theatre Promoter – Lalit Jaiswal

During that festival there was never a dull day in Delhi !
16th Natsamrat Natya Utsav included
10 plays in 5 days | 6 – 10 March | All plays in Hindi
6:30pm and 8pm everyday

Theatre doyen and legendary Pedagog Ebrahim Alkazi, who shaped proscenium theatre in India, died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon after suffering a heart attack, his son, Feisal Alkazi, informed us. Feisal told me the whole family was proud of his fathers humongous achievements. A career spanning 74 active years he passed away at 94.

The funeral will take place tomorrow at Jamia Milia VIP Grave Yard. But outsiders have been politely told to stay away, for their own safety, away due to the prevailing pandemic. The entire family comprising among others Feisal Alkazi, Radhika Alkazi, Amal Allana, Nissar Allana were present in Delhi.

Mr. Alkazi, has been the longest serving director of the National School of Drama, produced plays such as Girish Karnad’s “Tughlaq”, Mohan Rakesh’s “Aadhe Adhure” and Dharamvir Bharati’s “Andha Yug”. He mentored generations of actors, including Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri. M.K. Raina, Bhanu Bharti, Sonu Krishen, Manohar Singh, Surekha Sikri, Uttara Baokar, Dolly Ahluwalia, Ram Gopal Bajaj, the list is endless.

According to Wikipedia, He was born in Pune, Mahrashtra, Alkazi was the son of a wealthy Saudi Arabian business man trading in India and a  Kuwaiti mother.^[8] He was one of nine siblings. In 1947, the rest of his family migrated to Pakistan while Alkazi stayed back in India.^[9] Educated in Arabic, English, Marathi & Gujarati Alkazi was schooled in St. Vincent’s High School in Pune and later St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. While he was a student at St Xavier’s, he joined Sultan “Bobby” Padamsee’s English theatre company, Theatre Group. Thereafter he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London in 1947.^[7] There he was offered career opportunities in London after being honored by both the English Drama League and the British Broadcasting Corporation, however, he turned the offers down in favor of returning home to rejoin the Theatre Group, which he ran from 1950 to 1954.^[3]

Early on in his career he got associated with the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, which included M.F.Husain, F.N.Souza, S.H.Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta, artists who were later to paint from his plays and design his sets.^[7] In addition to his directing, he founded the Theatre Unit Bulletin in 1953 which was published monthly and reported on theatre events around India. Afterwards, he established the School of Dramatic Arts and became the principal of Bombay’s Natya Academy.^[3]

As the director of the Nationa School of Drama Alkazi revolutionised Hindi theatre by the magnificence of his vision, and the meticulousness of his technical discipline. Here he was associated with training many well-known film and theatre actors and directors. While there he created the Repertory Company in 1964 and directed their productions until he left.

He also founded Art Heritage Gallery in Delhi with his wife, Roshan Alkazi.

Alkazi won many of India’s most prestigious awards, creating an awareness of theater’s sensibility and successfully mixed modern expression with Indian tradition.^[3]

He was the first recipient of Roopwedh Pratishtan’s the Tanvir Award (2004) for lifetime contribution to the theatre.^[11] He has received awards including the Padma Shri (1966), the Padma Bhushan (1991), and India’s second highest civilian award the Padma Vibhushan in 2010.^[12]

He has also been awarded twice by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in Direction in 1962, and later the Akademi‘s highest award the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to theatre.

Original Title: A face of fascism published in Pioneer on 31/12/2000
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.12639266

Ruchika Theatre Group is one of the oldest surviving theatre groups of Delhi. The reason is simple. It keeps regenerating itself. The Diary of Anne Frank was one such exercise in which, Feisal Alkazi, the director of the play, used an entirely inexperienced cast, inducted from the Little Actors Club. Obviously, therefore, there would be unevenness of talent, but viewed within those limitations The show put up at India Habitat Centre last week held together due to sheer sincerity of effort and excellent performance by Gayatri Khanna, Keerthana Mohan and Sahil Gill. The actress who deserves special mention is Aarti Sethi, who gave a vivacious performance in the lead role of Anne Frank, despite the fact that she had an asthmatic attack just before the show began.

The Diary of Anne Frank has sold more than 25 million copies, since it was first published in 1947. Anne Frank has become a symbol of 10 million Jews murdered by Hitler, one million of whom were children like her.

The theatrical version of this diary by Mrs and Mr Hackett was published four years later in 1951. It is a lucid and slick adaptation of the diary of the sensitive Jewish teenager who died at Bergen-Belsen, Germany, in 1945. Anne Frank received this ready-to-write diary on her 13th birthday, just before she and her family had to go into hiding in Amsterdam, which was occupied by Hitler’s army since 1940.

Her engagingly personal account in which she was cooped up in a stifling Attic for over two years with her parents, sister Margot, another family, the Van Dans and Janice Dussel – a fastidious middle aged dentist who had little patience for Anne’s effervescent liveliness.

The chronicle derives it’s appeal from its engaging mix of the mucky details of life during war and candid revelations of confused emotions of an adolescent girl.

Otto Frank began preparing and stocking an attic behind his business office at Prinsengracht 263 into a hiding place. When the freedom of the Jews began to be severely restricted, with does and don’ts about where they could shop, swim or study. It is this annexe where all the action in the play takes place. Feisal had orchestrated simultaneous action in various living areas of this claustrophobic space that brought alive the ambiance. In one scene while Anne is talking to Margo in the bedroom. In the meanwhile Janice waits impatiently on the sofa for them to finish their conversation in the living room, others are playing cards at the table. It was such skillful touches that heightened the drama.

According to the director, Feisal Alkazi, improvisations were used to develop this as a play about fascism mainly to get the younger generation involved in the issues. However, the improvisations appeared to bring out the tension between the generations. The political statement emerged more in the brochure, at the level of relationships. Älso, the sexual empathy between Anne and Van Dan’s son Peter, the mixed feelings between the two sisters; and, above all, the relationship between “a girl of 13 who has no friends” and an inanimate object – her diary – whom she chose to call ‘Kitty’, were all well worked out. As usual Feisal had chosen his music pieces well and the clear playbacks of well-recorded voice-overs synchronised perfectly with the action on stage. MK

The Play & Director’s Note
This play has a storyline that could have been based on tomorrow morning's newspaper headlines. Using the wonderful theatrical device of three actors playing the central character of Kartik, we are able to enter his fractured world. We simultaneously see him as he was before the accident that changed his life; we also see him as he is immediately after the accident, recovering in hospital, at home and in school; as well as when he is an adult. The play brings together the present, past and uture in a seamless whole. It has been a fascinating journey with the actors and my own team. We have interviewed teenagers, their parents and teachers; watched their interactions in school, home and on the metro; created improvisations; spent hours mastering the intricate choreography; enjoyed the shopping for clothes that capture today's Delhi; and worked hard at creating over 36 characters,
played by just 14 actors!

The Director
Educationist, theatre director and activist, Feisal Alkazi lives and works in New Delhi. Over the past forty years he has carved his own niche with his group, Ruchika. He has directed over 200 plays with adults in Hindi, English and Urdu. Most recently, two plays, Noor and A Quiet Desire, written by him have been produced. In addition, he has directed over 100 productions for schools all over India. Ruchika also runs a training program in theatre for children since 1997. Feisal has written 24 books as well and is a counsellor with Sanjivani. In the field of disability, he has directed 30 films and produced several plays.

The Group
The Theatre-in-Education Company (Sanskaar Rang Toli) of the National School of Drama was established on October 16, 1989, and is one of the important educational resource centres in the  country. The TIE Co. consists of a group of actor-teachers working-with and performing-for children. The major focus of the company is to perform creative, curriculum based, and participatory plays in school, designed and prepared specially for children of different age groups. The company holds a one month long intensive Summer Theatre Workshop for Children organized in May-June every year. TIE Co. has participated in many international theatre festivals and symposia in countries including Poland, China, Philippines and Japan. Jashn-e-Bachpan and Bal Sangam are biannual festivals
organised by the company where it invites plays by and for the children from different parts of the country.

Cast & Credits
Sutradhar Kartik Manoj Kumar
Old Kartik, Gym Teacher, Shashank Manish Saini
New Kartik Mridul Anand
Mummy Aparna Kapoor
Papa, Changezi, Bhaiji Mahesh Kumar
Raghav Manoj Sharma
Himanshu, New Dancer Tasabber Ali
Nancy Jyoti Bala
Doctor Fatima, Rubina, Announcer Jyotsana
Inspector, Nurse1 Nidhi S Sasthri
Anshika, Nurse2, Vicky Soumita Kundu
Anthony, Shiny Piyush Verma
Drug Peddler, Teacher Kaleem Zafar

All Street Voices & Dancers Jyotsana , Aparna Kapoor, Soumita Kundu, Piyush Verma,

Mahesh Kumar, Manoj Sharma, Nidhi S Sasthri

Choreographer Vishwa Kant Singha
Assisted by Sandeep Kashyap
Costume Design Shaik Sheeba
Assisted by Jyotsana
Set, Poster & Brochure Design Jagan Shah
Assisted by Kamal Kumar
Light Design Mona Chawla
Assisted by Joginder Singh, Dhirender Kumar
Light Design Mona Chawla
Assisted by Joginder Singh, Dhirender Kumar
Music Operation Sheel/Vikram Jeet Singh
Stage Manager & Property Nidhi S. Sasthri
Tailor Saroj Silswal, Akhtar Ali
Sound S. Manoharn, Pratap Singh, Subhanjan
Photography & Videography Deepak Kumar
Assistant TIE Co. B.S Rawat
Administration Staff Pirat Singh Negi, Darmiyan Singh, Shailender Kumar,

Neha Bhatt

Attendant Md. Rashid, Pawan Kumar
Chief of TIE Co. Abdul Latif Khatana
Asst. Director Mona Chawla
Translation & Adaptation Kiran Deep Sharma
Design & Direction Feisal Alkazi