All the world is a stage, but too few rehearsal spaces in Bengaluru

Producing some of India’s finest directors, writers, actors, musicians, producers and performance spaces, Bengaluru has had a strong and rich theatre culture over many decades. However, with the drastic growth of Bengaluru over the last two decades, and the number of theatre troupes increasing, and with the costs also sky-rocketing, finding affordable spaces for rehearsals has gotten harder. Says Shashidar Bharighat, a prominent theatre director and senior member of Samudaya, one of Kannada theatre’s well-known troupes that gained prominence in the 70s, “I came to Bengaluru in the 80s, when most of our rehearsals would happen at the quadrangle of National College, Basavanagudi or H.N Kalakshetra in National College Jayanagar or at Ravindra Kalakshetra. With Bengaluru growing, the number of theatre troupes has also become more over the years, making it very difficult to find a rehearsal space.” Speaking to The Hindu, Vinay Shastry, a young director and founder of VASP Theatre, says a sense of inhibition has arisen for many institutions like government offices, schools and colleges to let out their space for theatre rehearsals. The rent charged by the rehearsal spaces are also too high, spaces charge anywhere between ₹ 500-1000 for an hour or two, affording these spaces is not easy for many theatre troupes in Bengaluru.” Changing technology Theatre and television actor Keethi Bhanu talks about how the approach to theatre among the young too has changed and technology has become both a boon and a bane for theatre over the years.