Compelled by Passion

The Making of Raju's Story

Actors flit about like shadows on the worldly stage but in the playing area, bring the strangest characters to complete and vibrant life.

Habitually living from moment to moment, a week - seven days - can feel like seven months or seven years. In a good way, of course. And there is the downside. So, for me, the hiatus from Theatre-in-Education (TIE) that has lasted eight years has felt like the eternal wait for love to strike as lightning might - an impossible dream and unbelievable hope, both rather unsteady companions. But patience and a coming together with the cosmic forces of Harshita and Pavan (yes, in that order), quite literally in corridors, and the ActIII TiE company was born.

Harshita: I really miss acting! And living here… what can I do? How can I even become a part of a group or play?

Me: You want to do TIE?

Harshita: Yes, yes! When, where, what?

The dialogue was set outside the main doors of Takshshila and with a promise made, we decided to attend the Blah-Blah-Blah TiE Company's workshop in SBS, Noida.

And a couple of days later, standing in the Atrium, Pavan was reminiscing about the play he put together for Ubuntu last year.

Pavan: I miss theatre! I really want to do more theatre. I want to act!

Me: You want to do TIE?

Pavan: Which is….?

Me: Participatory theatre. Experiential. Sometimes the audience is inside the play…

Pavan: Yes, yes, please, let's!

And the cosmic force Harshita just happened to be walking past just at that moment… Coincidence? Grand plan? Who cares?

The three of us are actors and educators, both vocations of great passion, and therefore in our burning hearths or passionate hearts lie the embryos of endless possibility.

So, compelled equally by our passion for theatre and for education, with the blessing of Sumit and Arvind, we trotted off to Noida on a hot day in May and spent a magical day with a group of incredible people - well, anyone moved to such an extent by passion has to be incredible!

There is one word that can sum up TIE in its entirety - MAGIC! What we create, together with the audience, is sheer, unadulterated MAGIC. No one can walk out of a TIE experience untouched by the magic, unchanged by the wonder - not the audience, nor the facilitator, and definitely not the actor.

Without giving away too much of the story, Raju came alive in our minds as we grappled with a History unit for Grade 8. "A young boy, just like you, only born in a different context, but who has your dreams, your hopes, your aspirations…" And why not?

Through evenings and weekends we bonded, improvised, rehearsed, scripted and planned. Like I said, compelled by passion, we did not begrudge our free time for this work. After school we would appear in the AV Room like wet and jaded dishrags but leave after two hours bouncing and airborne like helium balloons. It helped that we got along famously, were mature enough to immediately resolve differences of opinion, really and truly listened to each other, and left our egos outside the door with our shoes.

On the eve of our very first (of many!) productions, I salute the creative genius of my two partners in this crime (!) of passion - Harshita, Pavan, long live this Act (of) III!