Ep. 277 - Need for performing spaces with Atul Kumar

Peter Brook the legendary English theatre and film director once said, ********“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.”

Lets talk about the need for such a space with Atul Kumar.

Atul Kumar is The Company Theatre’s founder member. An acclaimed actor and director with more than 30 years of performance experience, Atul has dabbled with different languages and forms of theatre & has showcased his work all over India & abroad. His basic performance training was in the traditional Indian dance and martial art forms of Kathakali and Kalerippayettu in Kerala for over three years as well as a stint with the master of visual theatre - Philippe Genty in France. More about him in the show notes. Today we’ll deep dive into The Company Theatre Workspace, Kamshet as a case study.

Questions

1. What is The Company Theatre Workspace at Kamshet?
2. What inspired you to make such a place? Was it the influences from Aadishakti, Nrityagram or Footsbarn theatre group?
3. There is a beautiful 10 minute video on youtube where you briefly explain the backstory of this place and how it came to be. Do you want to share more details like which were the other 3 spots you shortlisted and why chose this over others? Why was your “want to” list huge? What were your pre-requisites?
4. Why do you call it a laboratory for theatre and performing arts? When I see your Instagram page, artists are doing all sorts of things from Tai Chi, Yoga to just running around and doing theatre drills, packed with high intensity body movements. What do you do in the space?
5. You mentioned that “we don’t always expect artists to do something specific but just be by themselves”. How does this help? Reflection, introspection anything else?
6. For outcome oriented projects, people need structure to think, how does this place facilitate it?
7. (Philosophical) Everyone needs time to pause and reflect. Do artist need more of it? Why? Can you tell us more about the place? How does the place accommodate for experimentation? Geography, topology, open space, residency and other things about the place?
8. What’s the future? Do we need more such spaces? Do we have similar places in India? Some mentions about your wonderful and dedicated to art team?

Reference links

1. https://www.instagram.com/atulkumartct/?hl=en
2. https://twitter.com/atulkumartct
3. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1241640/
4. https://www.thecompanytheatre.net/team
5. https://www.youtube.com/c/AtulKumarTheCompanyTheatre/videos
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm1h1CY-X1w
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ6PfJEDOmc
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrKp30jP28o