HYDERABAD: Entertainment ticketing platform, Paytm Insider has started a new digitally theatre initiative called ‘Front & Centre’ which it says brings experience of theatre alive, online. Notable plays are Every Brilliant Thing by QTP and Iti Ninna Amrita (Kannada) by Rangashankara Theatre in July, followed in August by One on One - Unlocked by Rage Productions, Timeloss produced by Akvarious Productions and Doppelganger by The Company Theatre. Their key focus is on bringing theatre productions in regional languages from across India in the spotlight. The plays currently featured are in Hindi, English and Kmore productions in other languages will continue to be added.
Paytm Insider CEO, Shreyas Srinivasan, adds “Over the last year, we’ve brought several exciting theatre productions forward including plays by Aadyam, Salim-Suleiman’s Umrao Jaan and storytelling works by Kommune.” The initiative has conducted its first workshops with sessions on Audio Drama with Frederick Greenhalgh, Scriptwriting with Carl Miller, and Comedy writing with Anuvab Pal. The initiative has got support from long-time theatre experts Shernaz Patel and Nadir Khan.
Speaking on the IP, Creative consultant, Front & Centre, Nadir Khan, said, “It’s a new medium, really, and the challenges that come with that are both exciting and daunting. I’m certain that this will help Indian theatre to continue to work, grow, collaborate, innovate, stay relevant, engage and continue that dialogue between the performer and audience.”
Speaking on the IP, Creative consultant, Front & Centre, Shernaz Patel says: “I am a purist. I thrive on the live and immediate thrill of theatre and shy away from technology. And yet like it or not here we are. I could have hibernated. But Insider’s Front & Centre came along at the right time and made me embrace this new normal.”