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Sanchaya -The Art of Compiling
 Sanchaya
(meaning compilation) emerged to fill the perceived lull in Kannada
theatre of the 80s. Rama Rao, Sanchaya's president, contends that
this theatre troupe is an assembly of cultures, art and traditions.
Sanchaya cherishes the theatre tradition of conveying socially
relevant messages. Themes such as those relating to class and creed are
incorporated in their plays. These plays not only educate the general
public but also provide entertainment to the audience. Sanchaya has had
the backing of renowned personalities such as the late Lankesh
['Giniyu Pinjaradolagilla' ('The parrot is not in the cage')], Abur
Jayatheerthi, CGK, Make-up Nani and Madhav Rao.
Of late there has been an influx of more and more youngsters into the
theatre scene. The youth to agreater extent are responsible for the superior
technical skills of theatre. Mr Rao opines that their fresh ideas
and innovations soothe the visual, intellectual and artistic sensibilites
of discerning audiences.
 Sanchaya
has also held many adaptations and translations of plays written in English
and Hindi such as, ' Irresistible rise of Arthur Vi.' 'Andha Yudh',
'Dharmaveera Bharathi'. Till date it has held more than 25 plays.
Sanchaya performs three annual plays and two drama festivals yearly.
Replying to a question about how popular Kannada plays are, he vehemently
asserts that Kannada theatre has a very wide reach. This is primarily
because as there is no cultural gap, people can easily relate to the plays
that are set in conditions they are familiar with. And to top it all,
Mr. Rama Rao admits that one of the plus points of directing self-written
plays is the immense freedom that you can exercise with your own script.
Mischelle
Rebello
Photographs by Levine Lawrence
Does the mention of the dedicated
peon in Swami and his Friends ring a bell? Or can you recall the
sarcastic Head Clerk in the Tahsildar's office in Girish Kasaravalli's
award winning movie, Tabarana Kathe (Tabara's story)?
S.K
Madhav Rao, has acted these roles and has many other cameo/character
roles in movies like Arivu andRaj Kumar's Bhagyada
Laxmi Baramma to his credit.
Today,Madhav
Raoworks only for the children's theatre. He conducts theatre workshops
for children at the M E S High School, the National High School,
Rishi Valley School, N.S.V.K. School and the Defence School.
His commitment to the children's Kannada theatre is really commendable.
The workshops conducted by him have given a start to theatre clubs in many
of these schools.
Madhav Rao feels that
creative ideas are not the divine rights of the privileged alone. "Every
artist has an actor in him." But some cannot revel in it due to lack
of exposure, lack of funds or the lack of required freedom. Mr Rao'sthoughtful
observation reminds one of Robert M Persig'sview on the conception
of technology - "There is no steel in nature. All nature has is a potential
for steel." It is this potential that Rao seeks to recognise
from the ideas generated by the children.
Ondurinalli
Obba Raja (A king in a city), Oliver Twist, Chandrahasa
are some of the children's plays directed by him. His career in the Kannada
theatre began with Prasanna'stheatre group, Samudhaya. He
has worked under practiced hands like Nani(popularly known in the
theatre circles as 'make-up Nani'), R. Nagesh, C.G.K,
T. Narasimha, S.Venkataramand many others.
He was honoured with the Kannada Nataka Academy
Award in 1996 and nominated for the National Award in the Supporting
Actor (for Tabarana Kathe) category. He is presently helping children
of the Remand Home to learn the skills of the theatre world.
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