"Every industry has been allowed to open, except for theatre. The government only thinks about theatre artistes during self-promotion at election rallies," says Sunil Chauhan, Director, Dramaturgy Theatre Group.
The group is currently fine-tuning five theatre plays as they are yet to get permission to perform what they are originally famous for - nukkad nataks (street theatre). "We did our last street play before the second wave on the importance of using masks and sanitisers," adds Chauhan, a theatre professional since 12 years.
Praveen Arya, Director of Awaaz - The Nukkad Natak Group, says things got so bad in the pandemic that he ventured into brokerage to find tenants for landlords. "At present, we are booked for the UP, Bihar, and Uttarakhand elections, and some private promotion projects. We plan to make more use of music in our nataks as it attracts people. But there is still no work in Delhi," adds Arya.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has selected 450 street artistes and arranged them in 45 teams to conduct street plays to promote awareness on vaccination and COVID-appropriate behaviour every week. The good part is that all the artistes get paid for their efforts.
Waseem Ahmad (32), Director, Alina Theatre Group, is part of one of these teams called Abhinay Arambh Group. “We get Rs 5,000 per month as part of the government fellowship. Initially there was no work and no earning, so this is good. We also get conveyance and basic expenses to set up the natak.”
Ahmad is positive that this art form won’t die despite a diminished audience engagement. "It has become challenging, which is why we are adding more music and comedy into our nataks now," adds Ahmad. Like every profession, Zoom and Google Meet came to their rescue.
Theatre Activist Purshottam Bhatt says, "Theatre artistes are creative enough to find out ways for their survival. Most of them started online study circles for play readings, and even conceptualised plays and did rehearsals online."
Chauhan's group has also followed this route. "We were feeling depressed waiting for the permission to come through, and so we held webinars, online play readings, and even rehearsals with our core team on Google Meet," Bhatt says.
However, Bhatt feels the government will not give permission for nukkad nataks because their artistes fight with the government for the people.
Sukhmanch Theatre, founded by Shilpi Marwaha, worked on nataks on road rage and road safety, women’s empowerment, and women safety before the second wave. "I remember the articles that had mentioned me as 'Kale Kurte Mein Mashaal'. But I have not worn the kala kruta in six months," chuckles Marwaha.
Even though her group has become quite comfortable with online platforms, Marwaha feels doing nukkad offline right now is impossible. "I cannot imagine going public with the group and putting everyone’s life at risk in this pandemic," she adds.
Chauhan agrees, noting that the Delhi government could be doing these nukkad nataks only to use up the grant money. "Personally, I find it impossible to do nukkad nataks with social distancing."
Even if the groups are allowed to perform, they lament the dearth of open spaces in Delhi where it is possible to adhere to social distancing norms. "If we can record our nukkads and show it in villages, and take a few artistes along who can communicate with the villagers, it might be a good alternative. Finding a way out is our only option to survive," Shilpi adds.