What happens when a couple of young people miss acting? They come up with a company that strives to make theatre accessible for all.
Origin Story
Enter Ahan Ghosh and Abhilasha Ghosh, two thespians, bored out of their mind during the pandemic lockdown and missing performing onstage.
With an idea to make theatre for all and break the social stigma that theatre does not have a future or money in it, they set out to make a sustainable model for theatre where they can reach out to a wider audience and make sure that no one in the city goes, “We got nothing to do in Kolkata!“
Beliefs, Ideas And Sustainability
Moving away from the age-old tradition of theatre being a modicum of “sending a message” to the audience, where the audience has to have a certain eye for intellect and detail in order to get the underlying messages, The Calcutta Theatre Co. makes sure that the niche audience is not the only one who gets the message.
They aim to make a drama out of normal everyday scenarios and make it relatable to today’s world and deliver that same message instead of preaching it haughtily.
The Calcutta Theatre Co. believes that theatre is not only for the niche audience aforementioned, and they have adapted their game according to the ages.
They have a new play coming up on the 9th of October, setting the mood right before the people of Kolkata get bustling about Durga Puja. The play is titled “Mahalaya Magic” which is a unique take revolving around the cancellation of pujas this year.
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One thing that really stood out is the fact that they pay their artists and crew (which stands at 30+ at the moment) every month, depending on the number of projects they have contributed to. This builds towards financial independence and a certain level of sustainability to the entire model, all while doing what they love to do.
Cast, Crew And Little More
“Our forefathers believed that theatre is not something that can be earned from. They believed that you could either earn or perform. The Calcutta Theatre Co. has been breaking this notion and quite rightly so“, says Ritam, a thespian in the team.
All of the crew here have worked in theatricals before, but none of them quite follow the same ideology as CTC. Being one of the newer troupes (they established themselves on the 8th of January, 2021), all of the cast, crew and artists have set upon this newer angle of theatre together. In effect, as a team, they are learning, adapting and experimenting.
The Calcutta Theatre Co. strives to make theatre available for all, wherein people have the choice to go out on a theatre date in Kolkata over a movie date.
They keep working on adapting the age-old “Jatras” into something that resonates with the current generation and has an underlying tone of the “Urban Folk” genre that is continuously experimented and evolved upon.
Image Sources: Bhuvana Ganguly and The Calcutta Theatre Co.
Sources: Exclusive Interview with The Calcutta Theatre Co.
Connect with the Blogger: Shouvonik Bose
This post is tagged under: Calcutta, Kolkata, Kolkata diaries, Bengal, Theatre, performing arts, drama, the Calcutta Theatre Co, acting, tradition, reinvention, progress, contemporary stage, rehearsals, backstage, full house shows, theatre dates, Back To Theatre
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