Theatre needs an audience. It needs an audience for survival. It needs an audience for the people who make theatre. And one of the ways to ensure spectator response is to bring theatre closer home. The Natrang Weekend Theatre scheme launched in the New Year opens up a new venue for the coming together of rasa and rasikas. The B.C. Pal auditorium at Chittaranjan Park is within reach of a large section of south Delhi residents. It is fairly well equipped, has a seating capacity of 318 and the tickets are fairly priced at Rs 100, Rs 50 and Rs 25. The programme really has everything going for it. Theatre-going as a habit is still not a part of Delhi culture. Like it is in Bombay and Calcutta. There is no guarantee that relocation of good theatre from Mandi House to south Delhi will suddenly sprout the tendency.Besides wider print publicity, there are several small measures that can be adopted to promote the scheme. Since the BCP is situated in a back lane, perhaps the Natrang Pratishthan needs to put up signboards from the main road to indicate the location.. There is little parking space in the area, and cars have necessarily to be parked in dark side-lanes. There is urgent need for a parking attendant to insure the safety of vehicles.Three plays have been staged at the BCP so far. A Hindi translation (Ram Gopal Bajaj) of Badal Sircar's docudrama on nuclear weapons, `Teesveen Sadee', presented by Abhiyan on the opening weekend did not attract many spectators. In any case it is not the kind of play that would evoke popular interest. The script is a dry recitative account of the horrors of Hiroshima, revealed via an imaginary trial of the perpetrators of the inhuman act and first person accounts of the tragedy by the victims.Momentum picked up with Asmita's `Ek Mamooli Aadmi' staged on January 9 and 10. Written by Ashok Lal and directed by Arvind Gaur, the play is a deeply moving description of the travails of a middle-aged clerk who knows of his impending death. Reserved, reclusive and politically correct Ishwar Chand, played with great feeling by Deepak Dobriyal, decides to do some unusual things before dying. The acts are not a result of angst or deeds of rebellion, Ishwar just wants to savour another life, paint a new picture of himself for his own viewing. His escape from reality is a challenge to that very reality. Death becomes a motivation for pleasure; he wants to please others, see others happy, and make others fulfilled.`Khush Anjaam', based on Bertolt Brecht's story `Happy End' drew boisterous crowd to the BCP last weekend. Scripted by Ritesh Shah and directed by N.K. Sharma for Act One, the dramatisation is a loosely structured attack on the nexus between the purveyors of religion and the missionaries of violence. A gang of robbers and a bunch of proselytizers operate on the highway. When interests begin to clash, and the game of one-upmanship is a loosing proposition, the two gangs unite in their common goal - fleecing the gullible public.A false energy inhabited the show. What seemed to appeal to the audience was the loud acting and gross movements. In the melee for awards in overacting, Itishree Singh's gritty effort to remain onboard stood out. She was also the sole carrier of a tune in a melange of the worst singing voices one has heard on stage in a long time.Natrang Pratishthan must take a closer look at what is being presented as the `best' lest the experiment boomerang! There is nothing more dangerous than a bad first taste.
