Impressions of a living city
Mathures Paul
She sat by the ghats of Howrah trying to hide her modesty with whatever was left of a sari as a group of tourists tries to capture on film “conditions of the Indian way of life”. Outrageous? Horrifying? Your thoughts are shared by the Flying Fish Theatre Company currently touring India. A troupe of top-notch actors are trying to capture the sights and sounds, thoughtlessness of international tourists, hobbies… the very essence of India. On returning to Germany, it will give birth to a play.
“Our production will be a record of our impressions of India — poverty, rights of women, different cultures… we will work on these feelings,” says Harald Fuhrmann, director of the company.
Before their performance at the Nandikar festival on 17 December, the group is trying to get a feel of the City of Joy. To understand their mode of acting, one has to see them practise — an opportunity of a lifetime. During practise sessions they play the “curtain game”, an exercise that can be witnessed only with permission from the entire troupe. At the beginning of the exercise, a few members of the troupe run around the stage hand in hand. When they stop, someone says “open curtains” and one of the participants begins narrating what he sees. “It may be a journey into the fantastic or something that the individual has seen. Some stories are strong, some unbelievable,” adds Harry. Later the actors sit around a stage and at random, one gets up to enact the story narrated earlier.
Since August, Flying Fish has been playing at a variety of venues, including market places, community centres, schools and theatres throughout India, Nepal and Pakistan. The members of the troupe also hold interactive workshops for children on acting, puppetry, dance, music, acrobatics and juggling. In the original itinerary, Flying Fish was not supposed to visit town. It was a recent addition.
“Every member has studied acting and are not afraid to experiment. All of them left paying jobs to undertake this project. In fact, one of them sold her house to be a part of this effort,” says Harald. The group is called Flying Fish because “we come out of the water, feel the atmosphere outside and go back to our habitat with our experiences.”
An Indian in the group is Ashwath Bhatt. He received his training at the National School of Drama, Delhi and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has played the role of Shylock (The Merchant of Venice), Dr Barthalo (Marriage of Figaro), Trigorin (Seagull) and Malcolm (Macbeth). He is also credited with the one-man show, Ek Mulaqat Manto Se. As for Harald Fuhrmann, he studied drama at the Academy for Music and Theatre between 1991 and 1995. He has been associated with Thalia, Hamburg, Hamburger Kammerspiele, Lubeck theatres in various capacities. The company is being supported by the Goethe Institute-Max Müller Bhavan, the Indian embassy in Berlin, the German embassy in New Delhi, the German Consulate in Chennai, National School of Drama in New Delhi, Kala Academy in Goa, Jammu & Kashmir Cultural Academy, Sopanam and School of Drama.
She sat by the ghats of Howrah trying to hide her modesty with whatever was left of a sari as a group of tourists tries to capture on film “conditions of the Indian way of life”. Outrageous? Horrifying? Your thoughts are shared by the Flying Fish Theatre Company currently touring India. A troupe of top-notch actors are trying to capture the sights and sounds, thoughtlessness of international tourists, hobbies… the very essence of India. On returning to Germany, it will give birth to a play.
“Our production will be a record of our impressions of India — poverty, rights of women, different cultures… we will work on these feelings,” says Harald Fuhrmann, director of the company.
Before their performance at the Nandikar festival on 17 December, the group is trying to get a feel of the City of Joy. To understand their mode of acting, one has to see them practise — an opportunity of a lifetime. During practise sessions they play the “curtain game”, an exercise that can be witnessed only with permission from the entire troupe. At the beginning of the exercise, a few members of the troupe run around the stage hand in hand. When they stop, someone says “open curtains” and one of the participants begins narrating what he sees. “It may be a journey into the fantastic or something that the individual has seen. Some stories are strong, some unbelievable,” adds Harry. Later the actors sit around a stage and at random, one gets up to enact the story narrated earlier.
Since August, Flying Fish has been playing at a variety of venues, including market places, community centres, schools and theatres throughout India, Nepal and Pakistan. The members of the troupe also hold interactive workshops for children on acting, puppetry, dance, music, acrobatics and juggling. In the original itinerary, Flying Fish was not supposed to visit town. It was a recent addition.
“Every member has studied acting and are not afraid to experiment. All of them left paying jobs to undertake this project. In fact, one of them sold her house to be a part of this effort,” says Harald. The group is called Flying Fish because “we come out of the water, feel the atmosphere outside and go back to our habitat with our experiences.”
An Indian in the group is Ashwath Bhatt. He received his training at the National School of Drama, Delhi and London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has played the role of Shylock (The Merchant of Venice), Dr Barthalo (Marriage of Figaro), Trigorin (Seagull) and Malcolm (Macbeth). He is also credited with the one-man show, Ek Mulaqat Manto Se. As for Harald Fuhrmann, he studied drama at the Academy for Music and Theatre between 1991 and 1995. He has been associated with Thalia, Hamburg, Hamburger Kammerspiele, Lubeck theatres in various capacities. The company is being supported by the Goethe Institute-Max Müller Bhavan, the Indian embassy in Berlin, the German embassy in New Delhi, the German Consulate in Chennai, National School of Drama in New Delhi, Kala Academy in Goa, Jammu & Kashmir Cultural Academy, Sopanam and School of Drama.
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