BENGALURU: It was a venture that three friends, who were passionate about theatre, dreamt about on a rainy day. Their idea transformed into a beautiful theatre space, and over the next decade-and-a-half, Sanchari Theatre has become synonymous with innovative themes and novel settings of plays.
The group, which celebrated its 15th anniversary on August 3, is also sought after by people, across age groups and professions, who want to undergo theatre training in the city.
The idea took shape when Mangala N, well-known actor of Duniya film, Rangayana Raghu and musician Gajanana T Naik, all resident actors of Rangayana, decided to start something new to explore theatre in an experimental way.
“I started my journey as a student of B V Karanth, and we were with Rangayana till 2001 when Prasanna took over. But then, we stepped out and took a risk. I started acting in various production houses. But soon, I realised that only acting wouldn’t earn me food. It forced me to take up direction, and that’s when we decided to launch my own production, Urmila,” Mangala, the founder of Sanchari Theatre, said.
Mangala directed and acted in the play, written by renowned poet H S Venkatesh Murthy. It marked the first production of Sanchari Theatre. Talking about the name, Mangala said it was Rangayana Raghu’s idea.
“All of us adored B V Karanth’s love for theatre. He always said drama is ‘sanchari bhava,’ which means it is the ‘becoming’ of something and it crosses feelings which are ancillary to a permanent mood,” she said.But then the group members, who weren’t used to the idea of going to rehearsals only in the evenings, wanted to set up their own space. They were rehearsing for plays in various places such as the basement of Mangala’s house, her brother’s house, the National College auditorium and any possible space available for practice. That’s when they realised that the city has a crunch of space for artistes.
“We were about 20 of us by then and did plays like Dhareyolagina Rajakarana, Arahanta, Kamalamani, Narigaligeke Kodilla, etc and rehearsed at whichever space was available,” she recalled.As the team expanded, actors like Sanchari Vijay, who won the National Award for his movie Nanu Avanalla, also emerged from there. The workshops have evolved into proper academic training grounds, where people are trained by professionals like former National School of Drama director Suresh Angalli; and actor Sihi Kahi Chandru.
Sanchari Theatre is also famous for its various classes, for children, professionals, those who want to pursue a career in theatre where even backstage is taught, and weekend classes for youngsters.
Sanchari has performed several well-known plays, and also done experimental theatre for India Foundation for Arts, a not-for-profit organisation’s Project 560 – an artistic quest to recode and reimagine Bengaluru through performances, culminating in 560 – the first three digits of the pin code for the city. Sanchari staged the play at the famous Vidyarthi Bhavan restaurant, with waiters as actors and a chair as one of the characters.
Their next play, Rangajangama, will be staged at Rangashankara at 7.30pm, Aug 16.