As the 16th edition of Thespo, a youth theatre festival from the stable of QTP, kicks-off this week, Quasar Thakore Padamsee, or Q, as he is fondly called, talks to Marisha Karwa about everything from the gush of theatre activity to why he becomes a tortoise while walking through Azad Maidan
How has theatre changed since you started out?
It has changed tremendously since 1996, the year since when I started watching and doing theatre in Bombay. Back then, plays were performed mainly at the NCPA and Prithvi, and the average age of the theatre audience was upward of 60 years old. Just a handful of plays used to be staged every month and there were very few production houses or theatre companies. So we've come a long way since then. Now, there are a whole lot more English and Hindi plays being staged, there are a great number of theatre companies and there is a choice of venues — from NCPA and Prithvi to the Hive, Temperance and Sitara Studios. Besides, the audience has grown exponentially, with the average age of the theatre goer coming down to 35-40 years. If you pick a newspaper on the weekend, you'll see a number of plays are being staged. And plays are staged not only on the weekend but even on weekdays. I just went for a Chinese opera on a Tuesday evening.
Has this growth made theatre a self-sufficient sector, independent of corporate support? Or do artists still keep their day jobs to pursue theatre?
No, not at all. Even though ticket sales and audiences have grown, they don't cover costs. And oddly enough, whatever little corporate sponsorship existed earlier has now been mostly swallowed by Bollywood and cricket. If you look at advertising, a lot of products are endorsed by Bollywood and cricket personalities, so corporates have no urge to fund the Arts. This is affecting everyone and we've had to resort to crowd-funding for Thespo, our youth theatre festival. The good thing is that every theatre company has figured out a model that works for them. For QTP, it means doing corporate events. That money allows us to do our plays and focus on the quality of the production. A lot of theatre artists, be they sound engineers or film actors, supplant their theatre income with regular-paying jobs.
What've been some of your biggest learning experiences in theatre?
I worked with Tim Supple on a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was an amazing experience. I learned so much from just the rehearsals. We got to travel the world with the show and work in some amazing venues like 2000 year old Roman amphitheatres and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Working in different systems, with different people was amazing.
What would you do differently if you had to start QTP now?
Probably not call it QTP. We were young, and in college, so the name kind of stuck. But I don't think there's much I would trade in. We are a little bit of a family, and that is our strength.
QTP was an initiative of a group of friends. Have the friendships endured with the growth of the company?
(Laughs) It's a mystery that even after all these years, we are still working together! Five of us — Arghya (Lahiri), Chris (Samuel), Nadir (Khan), Toral (Shah) and I, formed QTP after college and we were very clear about why we were doing this. Sure there've been fights and arguments and times when we've disagreed but at the end of it all, everyone understands that this is all about work and that there's nothing personal. Of course, there's a lot of trust involved. And there's been a huge change in the way we work since when we first started out. We've moved out from a living room to a proper office, our roles are far more structured and responsibilities are divided.
How has Thespo matured? Is it still dependent on corporate sponsorships?
Thespo has come a long way. From a one-act play, to full-length, to multiple languages across cities and even countries. A record number of 186 plays from 28 cities registered this year for Thespo 16. These productions have come from as far as Siliguri and Guwahati in Assam to Vellore and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Harda in Punjab apart from the big metros. Unfortunately, while the scale of Thespo has increased, funding has not. Thespo has been crowd-funded for the last four years. Theatre festivals don't require lots and lots of money, but they do require a lot of effort. Imagine if you have 186 plays — that's about 2,000 performers. And Shaun and Scherezade (Thespo 16 curators) travelled six weeks just to watch all these plays.
What is exciting about Thespo 16?
Everything. There is so much happening. There's Sambhaji Bhagat, who is a Lokshahir (Marathi public poet), whose performances and songs carry a social message. This is the first time we've got a wordless play from Sri Lanka. And Gillian Clark, a theatre artist from Canada, will explore the subject of sexual violence against women in the context of her hometown Halifax and Mumbai. Plus for the first time, we are producing a collaboration show with UK performers Clerke & Joy who are working with Indian actors in Falls 2-11.
What are you looking forward to the most at the festival?
A lot, but am particularly eager to watch Sambhaji Bhagat on stage.
What's your dream for Thespo?
To not worry about funding. We normally start working for Thespo from February onwards, and throughout the year, depending on the funds, we constantly reassess how much we can actually do and make cuts. It will be good to not have to worry about that. I'd also like for Thespo plays to go on tour. That has not been possible so far, and I'd really like to see some of the Bombay performances to be staged in other cities or in their own hometowns. For instance, we are exploring with the Sri Lankan group if their play can go to some other cities in India or if some our plays can be performed there. The larger dream for Thespo is to become among the more exciting festivals in India.
What do you like to do when you are not involved with theatre?
Watch cricket. I used to like playing. But now I am resigned to watching it on TV. It takes me very long to walk across the Azad Maidan because I get distracted by the cricket games happening all around.
Which person, in your personal and professional life, do you admire the most?
Too many to count. My mother for her generosity of spirit. Toral for her determination.Naseeruddin Shah for being able to hold an entire audience in the palm of his hand.
What makes you truly happy?
Being in a theatre, whether bringing chai, rehearsing, watching a show. Nothing else makes me that happy. In Bombay, probably Stories in a Song. It's a great introduction to musical theatre and is very enjoyable. I enjoyed Vagina Monologues because it is uniquely theatre. It transports us to worlds with the most minimal of movement.
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