So what if you can't go to the theatre to watch plays? The theatre can come to you! No, we are not talking about videos. I mean, don't we have enough visuals to last us a lifetime? We are talking about audio plays. So you see, Hyderabad-based Break A Leg! is at it again. Their mission has only been to make us fall in love with theatre for the past six years of their existence, first as a non-profit then as a company working to promote theatre and bridge the gap between plays and the audience.
So what is Play Back, the audio plays, all about? "Since video production is a challenging task in these times of social distancing, on September 1, we asked writers and playwrights to send us their scripts for audio plays. On September 21, we closed applications, shortlisted five scripts from the 35+ we received and have distributed it to theatre directors across India. We will record and produce it for them, take care of the sound effects and music. Basically, we will package it into six-to-ten-minute plays and publish it online," explains Ankit Bakshi, the founder of Break A Leg!, in one shot. This way, even the theatre artist who has been out of work since the pandemic descended upon us will have a job at hand. But there is more in store, says the 30-year-old. They also have a podcast coming up, Kal Ke Pal, wherein young theatre entrants get to interview doyens in the field and talk to them about theatre. Now, we can't wait to hear this one!
"The challenge with Play Back is to create that theatrical world. For that, we have to do a little extra to transport people to the scene and where it's happening, say a beach or the airport, because we can only engage one sense," says Ankit, who makes corporate films for a living under the brand Laputa Media. So while the whole month of October may go into production, Play Back will be live from November first week and as far as Kal Ke Pal goes, you can tune into them from this month itself.
"The pandemic has done a great job of reminding us that we can't survive without art, we need it more than we think we do. And though theatre might be the poor cousin of cinema, it is now that it needs our support," asserts Ankit. So folks, since art has seen us through so many things, including hand-holding us through the ongoing crisis, can't we lend it our ears when it's in need?
What else they offer
- Green Room Diaries: A behind-the-scenes with famous theatre personalities like actor Kalki Koechlin, Nandita Das, Sumeet Vyas, Anu Menon
- Quissa Quarantine Ka: They published some of the most moving quarantine stories in audio and audio-visual formats
For more on them, check out breakaleg.in
