‘Shoot First, Ask Questions Later’

As we head into rehearsal for our upcoming season of Rudali – The Mourner at The Herald Theatre, myself and Amit Ohdedar, my co director have been asked to write a series of blogs on the journey leading up to production.  My focus will be on the theatrical approach that we are taking and an insight into the rehearsal process and performance elements that we are exploring for this exciting landmark production.

To be upfront, I’ve never written a blog before, I’ve been procrastinating from doing so, spent a lot of time reading other blogs online to see how it’s done and how best to articulate what I want to say  and the more I spend thinking about it, dwell on how to begin it, decide what tone to use, what style to present and that screen on my laptop still remains blank.

Making theatre is a lot like that too sometimes. I stand inside a rehearsal room looking at the empty space as the clock ticks knowing soon there will be body of actors strolling in waiting to articulate a story and my job is to prepare them, train them and discover together with this group of actors how best to tell that story for an audience and just like getting this blog started, the more I get caught up on the little things, that rehearsal floor remains empty.

Sometimes it’s just about diving right in and asking those questions later. I remember one of my tutors at National School of Drama saying to us  ‘Shoot first, Ask questions later’   and that is the working style and approach that we have taken into the rehearsal process for Rudali- The Mourner.

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring how best to tell this story. Having done a season of this play last year gives us an added advantage but also poses challenges for us to make the work fresh and new for those who may have already seen it and accessible and entertaining for those who haven’t. On that note, for those who saw the show last year, this is latest incarnation of Rudali – The Mourner is a brand spanking new production. We have a new musical score, different staging configuration, some new exciting cast members and some little tricks we’ve got hidden up our sleeves that you’ll just have to come and see to find out.

With a cast of almost 25 actors, we’ve been exploring the nature of the ensemble and how an ensemble can communicate, represent, highlight some of the unsaid things of the play and theatricalize scenes, it also provides opportunities for us to use movement, sound, elements of object animation to enhance this show.

To tell you everything now would rob you of the element of surprise and rob me of my word count.

Over the next few weeks I hope to share with you some of these elements, discoveries and decisions with you, to invite you into this virtual world in which you can be part of our rehearsal process, get an insider’s view of where we are heading, have a glimpse of the world we are creating, moulding, shaping and preparing to tell you the tale of Rudali- The Mourner.

– Ahi Karunaharan

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One of the foremost apprehensions about Rudali had been whether we would be able to tell the story of a society and a system so alien to our audience! The story of Rudali is borne in the rural heartland of India. It is based in a world, where a person’s life and living are determined not by one’s calibre but the caste he or she belongs to. It is about people who are much below the UN Poverty line! It is about a world and the people who live outside our world of growth and globalisation! They are a statistical entity, a percentile figure, a mere number! They exist at the fringes that we conveniently choose to ignore!

Yes, it is a stark grim and cruel world they live in. But that is only one side of their story. The other side is the way they take life as it comes and extract happiness and fun out of it! They may not get one square meal a day, yet they smile, fall in love, sing, dance! They toil hard, they party hard too! Their night clubs are not sleazy bars but open fields under starlit skies!

They do not simply accept their despair but work within their means to make the best of their situation however unjust! They do not look for pity or charity. There is some kind of quiet pride and dignity in their ways.

I think there are many Sanicharis (Rudali’s protagonist) around the world! Their stories may be different but it strikes a chord of universal humanity. We hope to tell one of those stories!

– Amit Ohdedar