CHENNAI: What makes a classic? One could say it’s the ability to stand the test of time, carrying relevance with its plots and characters across decades. In the return of their annual tradition, Women’s Christian College is bringing such a play, Fiddler on the Roof, from November 3 to 5.
“Due to Covid, we were unable to display production for two years but this is a tradition of WCC. The whole college community comes together from different departments and faculty coordinators work in different committees such as sound and lights, seating, tickets etc. Everyone contributes in the different ways they can. It is an exercise to display the talent of the students and to keep the theatre momentum alive,” says D Punitha, head and associate professor, of the PG Department of Communication.
The production is a culmination of around three months of theatre workshops a clown acting workshop by Yash Yogi, acting basics by Melody Dorcas, voice training by Arivazhagan while working with the director Regin Rose, theatre director, actor, and founder-director of Chennai Theatre Academy.
“Melody had a two-day session where she got the girls to form groups, interact and come up with small parts and random scenes to bring out their talent. The students had never acted up until this point so she was trying to bring out that raw talent. In the clown workshop, the conductor started off by getting them to coordinate as a team because the cast members had never really seen each other.
There were interactions, activities, games where they could start showing their selves and get rid of inhibitions,” shares Jeevlin Abraham, the faculty coordinator. Regin intended the workshops to teach the students through the process instead of just putting on a production. This would also allow them to open up, ridding them of any mind or body blocks.
Speaking of the plot, Regin mentions that the tale of dairyman Tevye and his family ripe with themes of tradition, religion and evacuation (of the Jews) is still relevant to contemporary times.
“There are two points in the Fiddler on the Roof. One is tradition and how we hold on to it. We did some research with the students and found that the Jewish community and (other) Indian communities have many similarities in how the elder generation held onto their traditions and the younger ones would try to come out from that. The struggle and conflict are very strong and it’s portrayed in a comical way. This will definitely connect with Indian audiences whether young or old. And the second thing is the evacuation. Throughout history, this has happened with the Jewish community, especially in 18th and 19th century Europe. In the same way, many communities in the world till now are being evacuated from their own land. And not only in nations but also cities like Chennai. People in slum areas are taken away but where they are, nobody knows. So, this problem is always there,” he shares.
For the upcoming production, the director expects no amateur performance.
Tickets will be available at the venue, priced at Rs 200, Rs 300 and Rs 500. Donor passes are available at Rs 1,000. The production begins at 6.30 pm.