Theatre Awardees 2021: Parshathy Nath, Sayak Mitra and Athul Mohan
The Theatre Awardees of 2021 are Parshathy Nath, Sayak Mitra and Athul Mohan.
This week they share with us their unique journeys, learnings and what they hope to achieve.
Parshathy Nath
Performer in thought
Is the brain the only part of the body that we think with? Is it possible that we think with our limbs when we cycle or dance? When performers practice navarasa, do they think with their breath or do they stop thinking altogether?
These are some of the questions I was faced with in my History of Theatre/ Philosophy class in Ninasam, a theatre school and institute in Karnataka. They offered me new and different perspectives on what it meant to be a performer. Through my training in various forms of performing arts, I have learned that not just the mind, but the body is also to be treated as a sentient being. However the biggest shift in my perspective was the transition from being a journalist to a professional theatre practitioner and performer. Before I became a theatre practitioner, I relied on words my medium via which I comprehended reality, now I do so in a multitude of ways.
During my journey as a theatre artiste, I have stumbled upon performance methodologies that challenge normative pedagogies of acting. For example, to me, Adishakti is a beautiful confluence of tradition and modernity, where ancient knowledge systems and performative practices met contemporary thought processes and texts. I attended a 10 -day long acting workshop which taught me how to anchor my emotional expression in breath and rhythm. Similarly at a Navarasasadhana acting workshop at Natanakairali, conceived by Koodiyattam exponent and scholar, G Venu, I was guided to rely on Koodiyattam techniques and the sound of breath to express. Ninasam, where I did three months of my internship, taught me the intensity and rigour of traditional Indian theatre’s body regimen in making the actor a true vessel for characterisation.
My encounters with martial art forms like Kalaripayattu from Kerala and Kolattam, a folk music tradition of Karnataka, have reminded me once again how the entire body is involved in theatrical exploration of voice, music and acting. My practices in theatre learning have taught me that mind is just one among the many faculties that’s at play when you are an actor. That has enriched my theatre practice over the last three years; I try to learn new forms of dance or theatre every year. Last year, I learnt elements of Koodiyattam and Yakshagana. At Ninasam, I performed in Chitrapata Ramayana, a Kannada Yakshagana play in which I acted as Shoorpanakha. This past year, I restarted my rigorous practice of Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam, two classical dance forms from South India, that will help mould my body vocabulary as a theatre artiste. My ongoing training in Carnatic music has enriched my understanding of music as a form of emoting and helped me hone my voice better for theatre practice.
Theatre’s biggest contribution in my life is it has urged me to step outside my head and turn into an intuitive being, who responds to impulses and soaks in the atmosphere around her not just on a cerebral plane but on an experiential level as well. It has changed the way I live and approach reality as well. I wish to continue this engagement with the senses, the body and the spirit, and work towards a holistic awareness and perception in my further practice as a performer and theatre artiste.
Sayak Mitra
Journey towards wisdom
When I was 10 years old, I remember being confused when my teachers asked me what my ambition was. Other children would say they wanted to be a doctor or an engineer. But eventually I answered, “I want to dedicate my life for Indian art, I will be a person who can carry forward Indian tradition.” I don’t know how such an answer, in my very early childhood, arose from an unconscious level.
Years later, at the age of 24 while I was completing my Masters, the door to my dream opened before me. I watched a Kathakali performance and was enthralled by the way drama manifested through dance. Mesmerised by this Indian natya form I decided to learn Kathakali. After two years of rigorous practice in that art form my mentor moulded me into a Kathakali performer. Simultaneous to my education in dance, I completed my Masters in ‘Tagore literature’ and ‘Linguistics’. It was around this time that I met Piyal Bhattacharya, an artist who has dedicated his life to the reconstruction of Indian dramaturgy. I started learning Natyashastra under him. After studying few chapters of Natyashastra I realised that Indian dramaturgy is based on two important things, music and dance. While I was able to understand how music as an integral part of acting, I was intrigued by the notion of dance as a part of drama. My mentor explained that the dance which is prescribed in Natyashastra, is the foundation or core of supra-physical characters in Indian dramaturgy. Most characters found in Sanskrit plays are not real. They are actually symbolic representations of a certain purview of Indian philosophical thought. Nowhere in the world do we find such multi-layered characters as we do in Sanskrit drama. We can only enact the gross characters, but the layers in the story, layers of the characters, cannot be manifested through conventional methods. After this realisation I started learning dance which was reconstructed by Piyal Bhattacharya from the guideline of ‘Natyashastra’. I started learning Dhrupad (vocal) and Rudra Veena simultaneously.
This led me to musicology and to reconstruct Bharata’s music tradition for Natya. I have been conducting research on ancient instruments, like Alapini Veena (known Tuhila in Jharkhand and Orissa), Kinnari Veena (known as Kinnera in Telengana) etc. I was fortunate enough to visit their places of origin, learn about the instruments from traditional players.
At the same time Piyal Bhattacharya was reconstructing the Uparupakas (dance-music dominated plays) and I started performing as the lead actor of those plays, like Bhaanak, Bhaanika and Samvatsar Katha.
Then we focused on reconstructing the Rupakas [acting based plays]. Firstly, we reconstructed ‘Bhaan’ [Indian monologues], we choose ‘Padma Prabhritakam’ of Shudraka. This Rupaka is the Indian narrative acting and is presented through monologues by an actor. I trained myself in four folds of ‘Abhinaya’ and staged it. I was the lead actor in “Meghdutam” designed by Usha Ganguly and also in “Machhi” of Debesh Chattopadhaya.
The most recent choreography composed and presentated by us ‘Viraha Gatha’ based on ‘Meghdutam’ in Urdu. It was performed at Padatik theatre on 18th & 19th December, 2020.
So, the journey is going on, I am on the path of search, towards wisdom. I can see that it is an ocean, I have to swim in it, I have to collect the precious stones from the depths of the ocean. This journey will continue till my death, a journey towards my wisdom.
Athul Mohan
My earliest memories of theatre are the professional plays I saw at the festival grounds in nearby temples with my father as a child. Those plays evoked in me a love for the stage.
Through the course of my life, I have been blessed with numerous opportunities that have brought me to where I am now. While in school, I attended theatre workshops conducted by Abhinaya Kerala, a theatre initiative in Kerala and 8 Point Art Café, which introduced me to the work of professional theatre groups. My early experiences in theatre, led me to attend the School of Drama & Fine Arts, Thrissur for BA in Theatre Arts. Thrissur opened my eyes to a world of theatre which I did not have access to in my hometown.
During my time at college I was introduced to a plethora of , I collaborated with Strings Theatre Company, Finland for the Indo-French production “Strings” directed by Mbalou Arnould & Nella Turkki at the 9th International Theatre Festival of Kerala organized by Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi. The following year, our class produced “Trans-Formation”, a performance art piece based on Dalit encounters in India. The play was directed by Vinod V Narayanan and travelled across Kerala’s streets in various national and international theatre festivals. Some other notable productions I participated in were Bertolt Brecht’s “Three Penny Opera” with Manuel Loyola (Teatro Del Oraclo, Chile) and William Shakespere’s Othello in Chavittunadakam with Martin Jishil & Clement Kuttapasheri. I also worked as a theatre teacher for the children of Chilla-Annania (a social service organization in Kerala).
Recently I attend a buffoonery workshop by Inlaks Alumnus, Vinu Joseph at the School of Drama. It was here that I had the opportunity to be a part of the production, Dr Vikadan, which has been a turning point in my career. It broadened my perspective with regards to clowning, buffoonery and physical comedy. It inspired me to specialize in Children’s Theatre. As part of my degree project, I created independent adaptations of “Grimm Tales”, which were dramatized by Tim Supple and Marjane Strapi’s “Persepolis” with children and adults. This in turn inspired me to explore the potential of clowning, puppetry and various South Indian folk forms as street performances.
During the pandemic, I have had constant interactions with my guide Vinu Joseph with whom I have been able to explore and practice the clown territory of South India. As an actor, I see this prestigious opportunity of Inlaks Theatre Awards as a gateway to the self process in exploring and practicing clowns form South Indian popular & ritualistic performances.
