Art, Theatre and Literature are such spheres which give infinite space for an emotion, an expression or a thought to evolve in its own uniqueness. Perhaps these are the only spaces in our tangible world where there is no definitive or limitting conformity. but interestingly, one of the greatest hurdle that modern theatre especially English and Hindi theatre faces today is the dirth of originality. There is very little original playwriting and scripting in theatre today. Most plays are enacted either verbatim or are adaptations of short stories and classics.
"when it started out with people like Alyque Padamsee, the English stage hosted plays which were direct transcriptions from Shakespeare, Rand, Tennesse williams etc. unchanged in form and content". says Pronoti Datta, journalist, Time Out Magazine.
The scenario changed when in the late 90's Rahul DaCunha and the Rage group came up with their play I am Not Bajirao. adapted from Herb Gardener's I am not Rappaport. that later on became hugely successful and most importantly paved the way for 'Indian English Theatre'. for the first time the audiences connected with the story and also the language which was more colloqual.
and since then Mumbai has been a city which has seen some very good theatre, There has always been a lot of activity in it and even greater now with more and more young people taking interest in it. But sadly there is unanimous agreement among all the Thetrewallas about the ever increasing depletion of good and original content.
People are skeptical of experimentation fearing that their plays wont run. "given the present compititive conditions with commercial stuff working so well with the audience, there is very little scope for serious and experimental theatre" says eminent playwright Ramu Ramanathan.
Even when there is so much of interest and involvement amongst the youngters, most of them join popular and established groups under famous names instead of starting their own groups or ventures therefore end up being molded into a gregarious lot.
Also the viwership has changed majorly over the years and with the coming of the digital era it is continually changing towards being a very complex dynamic of demand and supply.
"It is tough." says Ramanathan " The playwright is being treated like any other writer ... Plays are expected to offer more professional content. The writing has to have a bit of everything from Borges to Bollywood and from Rabindranath to Rap. With YouTube and dvd libraries and Barkha Dutts and iPods, audiences are demanding more on-demand entertainment choices than ever before. Forget about the well-made play or absurdist angst, the playwright is having to provide "adrenalin pumping contextual excitement".
but of course there are steps and initiatives being taken at major levels. one of the foremost being The Writer's Bloc project started in 2002 by the members of the Rage group, Shernaz Patel, Rahul da Cunha and Rajit kapoor. it is an endevour which encourages new playwrights to come up and gain visibility. The first festival of Writer's bloc staged plays made by participants in a series of work shops conducted by the group and the London Based Royal Court theatre Company. The second Writer's Bloc festival took place in 2007. The initiative has produced 22 new plays including the well acclaimed The President Is Coming.
Money and budget stipulations are one of the major issues which cause a setback to new and creative ventures. Most theatre veterans feel that plays cant be done for money, that there is a total disentanglement between passion and benefit.
My personal thought on this would be that it all begins with and trickles down to the same classic dilemma of " whether Theatre and cinema is fundamentally about art or entertainment". one could say that it is really a matter of personal choice and perception, but in a world which is continually slipping into the hands of vigorous consumerism, and where perception is becoming an incompresible space of convinience and the need for moderation. this question although incapable of being resolved needs to be thought of deeply.