Theatre director, playwright, and social activist Prasanna is hailed for introducing innovative techniques and ideas in theatre. In 1975, the Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee set up Samudaya, one of Karnataka’s oldest amateur theatre groups. It soon became a strong anti-establishment voice as it travelled all over the State staging street plays, protest plays, and propagating political thought in villages. Prasanna is also the founder of Charaka Cooperative Society, and mentor of Gram Seva Sangh.
Very few books live up to the expectations created by their blurbs, but Prasanna’s iconic book, Indian Method in Acting, does. First published in 2013 by the National School of Drama, it is now available in a revised edition with a new introduction by the author. In this excerpt from the first chapter, “A Game of Falsehood”, Prasanna clarifies his views on theatre, saying with trademark candour: “Let me repeat, the fundamental purpose of theatre is to communicate truthfully and playfully.”
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I am sure you’ve heard jokes equating theatre with lying or falsehood. There are many such doing the rounds these days. When someone expresses himself / herself through false emotions, people make fun of them, saying, ‘What drama!’ or ‘Drama Baaji!’ in anglicized Hindi.
For those of us who work in the medium such comments are irritating, even though we know they are about falsehood and not about theatre. Be that as it may, there is a very important relationship that exists between theatre and falsehood. It is, infact, a profound relationship.
Theatre is not real
Nothing that happens on stage is real. A person who dies on stage is not actually dead, love on stage is not enduring, a marriage on stage is not valid. Nothing you see on stage is what it looks like. In this sense, theatre is unreal.
A glimpse backstage shows how false everything on stage is. Perception on stage and reality off stage have no connection whatsoever. The words actors speak, their expressions, the clothes they wear - none of these is their own, none of it is real. Everything on stage is made up, make-belief. Why is that so?
Because, firstly, theatre is a game
Theatre is an extraordinary and unique game. It uses falsehood as its base. But, mark my words, falsehood is not its intent. Truth is its intent. Do you get what I mean?
The intention of theatre is indeed the opposite of falsehood. Theatre searches for truth. And, false base is a technique employed in order to do so. If you do not use a false base, truth will not come out.
This is important for actors to bear in mind: Truth and reality are not the same. But, actors are too preoccupied with reality. Infact, contemporary actors often use a style called Realism in their work.
As a result they end up thinking that portraying reality is in itself truthful. It is not. The aim of even realistic theatre is to realize truth. Even in the so called realistic theatre the base is unrealistic and false. And, the attempt is to get at truth.
A delightful game of duplicity
As I said, theatre is a game. Like any game, this delightful game of duplicity, if it is played by the rules - if it is performed on the stage before an audience, it can make the audience realise truth. If, on the other hand, the drama is ‘acted out’ in real life, breaking the rules of accepted codes of behaviour, it becomes a butt of ridicule.
Like the ball game, or the doll game, or the word game-such as crossword, or like the game of Holi-where expletives are cheerfully exchanged, or like the game of chess that mirrors a grim battle-ground, the game of theatre too should be played and enjoyed. An actor should, first and foremost, enjoy playing.
Yes, in fact, in many languages a theatre performance is called a game. In Kannada, for instance, a folk theatre performance is called Aata, meaning a game.
Bayalaata means a performance in the open, jogiyara Aata refers to the performance of jogis, parijaatada Aata is a performance on Krishna.
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I am sure you have understood by now why the English language uses the word ‘play’ for a dramatic text. Theatre is a game to be played and enjoyed.
Like a lotus flower
Let me offer you an analogy that explains the relationship between theatre and falsehood. It is similar to the relationship between a lotus flower and the slush from which it rises.
While the lotus flower is clean and beautiful, like a good performance, the slush, like the reality, is slushy. Yet, they are inseparably connected to each other. Just as the lotus gains its life-essence from slush and yet manages to reveal beauty, drama gains its life-essence from falsehood and yet manages to reveal truth.
Just as the lotus flower is the pinnacle of glory for the lotus plant, so is the realization of truth the pinnacle of glory for a stage performance. Theatre should never lose sight of this relationship.
Entertainment or ethics?
I would say theatre is both. The purpose of theatre has been defined in several other ways as well: As a lesson in ethics, as a means of political revolution, as a means of social reformation, as just pure artistic creation, all. While all these objectives may be relevant, none of them wholly defines the basic purpose of theatre.
These various definitions are but natural. In different historical phases, different interpretations of the purpose had gained ground. They had even turned theatre into an ugly and ideological battlefield.
Discussions and arguments raged, with people insisting that the purpose of theatre should be solely this and solely that. That it should have only these elements and not those other, that only these kinds of people are friends while others are enemies, etc.
Truthfully and playfully
But such arguments create confusion rather than clarity. They unnecessarily burden theatre with half-baked ideological intentions and, in the process, damage the fun of doing theatre. Let me repeat, the fundamental purpose of theatre is to communicate truthfully and playfully.
God and theatre
God and theatre were linked. Theatre, in the past, was a tool to communicate with the gods. You could even say, the two notions, of god and theatre, were born together. Note for example, how old this medium is. Before we even learnt to speak, theatre had already come into existence. Why? What was the need?
There was no question of social reform or political change at that time prompting theatre to happen. Because, there was no society nor polity of any worth existing then. And, the luxury of artistic creation was surely unaffordable.
Humans were hardly humans then. And, they were confronted with the wild. They had to hunt for their daily food, struggle to keep their kith and kin alive, etc. So, why perform? The reason can only be the existential fear. And, an attempt to over come that fear. It was this attempt to overcome fear, and consequently become faithful, that gave birth to what we now call ritualistic theatre.
Truth is not a mere ritual
The institution of god and the institution of the theatre were not just born together, they are inseparable. We spoke to, complained against, and communicated with, gods through theatre.
In fact, people use theatre to communicate with gods even today. It is only in the modern times that theatre has moved away from religion. However, I do not think the basic purpose for which theatre is performed, namely the search for truth, should change even today.
Ritual and theatre
Be it Greek or Ancient Indian theatre. Theatre was performed as part of a ritual. And, all rituals are theatrical events. Look at the temple rituals for example: the idol is bathed, dressed, fed, put to sleep with suitable lullabies.
Or, look at the last rites that are performed after a person is deceased. Or, ‘kashi yatra’ ritual as practised in south Indian brahmin weddings. They are all dramatic events.
The groom, for example, pretends to be leaving for Kashi (Varanasi) for higher studies; the bride’s father pretends to stop him from leaving, humours him and eventually persuades him to accept his daughter in marriage. Similarly, the ritual performed to celebrate the pregnancy in a woman. Don’t they all have strong elements of theatre?
Truth and reality
Coming back to theatre, why does theatre have to take such a circuitous route to understand truth? Isn’t truth plainly visible, after all a lie is apparent?
No, not truth. What is plainly evident, however, is reality. Reality is tangible. Every newspaper, every television channel, deals with reality. We are submerged in reality.
Reality does not let us see beyond it. Reality is limiting. Haven’t you heard of the saying frog in the well? Reality surrounds us like that well. Reality can be felt, touched and experienced. It can even be measured. And, it is terribly limiting.
But, that is not always an advantage. In many sense, reality in a problem. Do you get what I mean?
Cover of Indian Method in Acting | Photo Credit: By special arrangement
A real object, for example, can only show that aspect of its reality that is facing us. It cannot show the other part, or parts, that are hidden from our view. Even when it turns, we see the ‘other’ part and not the earlier one. In this sense, real experience is always partial. Yes, perception of reality is always partial.
For example, we think we see a full moon on a full-moon night. But do we actually see it? No. Nobody can see the fullness of the moon from the earth. As your know, there is a part of it that is always turned away from the earth. Thus, even on a full-moon night, we see only a part of the ‘full’ moon. Truth is like the full moon; it cannot be fully realized in reality alone.
Realise transcendentally!
They say, truth is realised transcendentally. Well, what is it that one is trying to transcend? It is the reality. Actors are trying to transcend reality while performing.
But one cannot easily transcend the real world. An actor, for example, cannot transcend himself or herself easily, in order to become a character. This is why, in theatre, we create an unreal world. We create a story. Even the experience of music and poetry, similarly, has a transcendental quality to it.
Excerpted from Indian Method in Acting (2024) by Prasanna, published by Acting Shastra. © Author
