Not too long ago, Vijay Padaki found himself in a group, discussing the qualifications, skills, expertise, and training needed for children’s theatre. “The group turned to me for an opinion,” says the theatre doyen, who believes that though these criteria were important, they were insufficient. “I have always felt there was a far more fundamental requirement. To do children’s theatre, you must love children,” he says.
Vijay Padaki | Photo Credit: HANDOUT E MAIL
This deep love for children has been an integral aspect of his 63-year association with the Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT), which he has been part of, in various capacities, since its inception in 1960. Notably, in 2005, when BLT created the Academy of Theatre Arts, an entire programme titled Schools & Children was introduced as a key focus area.
These efforts have finally obtained the recognition they richly deserve. On May 28, Vijay received the International Lifetime Achievement Award from ASSITEJ (Association Internationale du Théâtre de l’Enfance et la Jeunesse) International, a network of artists and organisations in over 75 countries dedicated to the belief that every child and young person deserves access to the arts, in Cuba.
“It was very satisfying,” he admits, pointing out that while everyone remembered BLT for public performances, their children’s theatre work was not always so visible. “It was good that it got the recognition it deserved – outside the country before within! That was more important for me than the award itself,” says Vijay, Trustee Emeritus, BLT.
BLT is a vital aspect of the English Theatre landscape in this city. Can you talk about the origins of English Theatre in Bengaluru and its strong links to the city’s colonial past?
We must begin by accepting that English language theatre has remained an urban phenomenon in India, restricted to the larger cities. Bengaluru has certainly nurtured English theatre for a long time.
When Charles Cornwallis first marched his troops from Trinity Church down South Parade in the late 18th century, he might not have realized that he was creating the great cantonment-city divide. After the British established the Bangalore Cantonment (in 1806), it was inevitable that the English language would be adopted in many social transactions in the areas under the administration. A natural accompaniment to this process was the emergence and establishment of schools with English as the medium of instruction. Not surprisingly, many of these schools were characterised by two features—a missionary origin and staffing with expatriate / British teachers.
The teaching and practice of drama in “English” schools were integral to the British educational system. It simply reflected the social context in which the theatre was a living and vibrant art form.
It can be said that English language drama in India was essentially a colonial cultural legacy. The very term colonial legacy has, inescapably, a negative connotation, but it must be accepted that there were some obvious positive features of the legacy as well: technically sound stages, for instance. Also, teachers coming from Britain were often trained and experienced in both teaching drama and producing plays, and they had exposure to good stagecraft.
However, we cannot overlook the fact that the legacy also had some obvious negative features, especially an overall alienation from Indian culture. Drama studies amounted to a narrow pursuit of English and Western traditions, with students remaining ignorant of Indian and Eastern traditions, and there was a clear cantonment-city cultural divide.
Can you describe BLT’s evolution over the years and how it began creating a bridge between English-language and Kannada theatre traditions in the city?
In the 50s, there was already a strong amateur drama tradition in Bengaluru, which was made up mainly of college and university folks. Much of this was in Kannada. They would also take on English language productions now and then, with organisations like Natya Sangha and A.D.A. becoming great catalysts of theatre productions.
Second, English medium schools of missionary origin often had drama teachers from England bringing strong theatre practice into the schools. Bishop Cotton actually had a technically sound stage. There was a large expat community in Bengaluru that liked to produce English language plays, notably through the Bangalore Amateur Dramatic Society (BADS).
Scott Tod, a trained director, and Margaret Tod, a trained actor, arrived on the scene in 1959, bringing experiences of the Little Theatre movement in the U.K. They had strong reservations about the all-white character of the expat community. They looked around and found the active, home-grown amateur drama community. And BLT was born. Several founder members of BLT were stalwarts of Kannada theatre, even going on to become big names in cinema. Not surprisingly, BLT succeeded in bridging the city-cantonment divide.
What do you think about the current theatre landscape? How does the lack of structured theatre institutions hamper its growth, making it hard for a professional theatre artist to live off their art, so to speak?
It is clear that the poor state of the Indian theatre system is similar to that of many other post-colonial societies: a priority given to economic development at the expense of cultural development.
One consequence of such an inadequate policy is that we are preoccupied with the survival of single organisations through one-off fundraising and sponsorship efforts. We do not visualise the larger system of necessarily interconnected organisations that form the theatre institution. An institution is thus an “organisation of organisations.” A component organisation can thrive and prosper only if the institution prospers.
Acknowledging the notable exceptions in small pockets in different parts of the country, it can nevertheless be said that theatre in India is characterised by low numbers involved, low quantum of work being done, low public interest, low institutionalisation, low viewership and low funding -- in general, a low stature.
The loop between social investment in the theatre and its growth and vibrancy has been a virtuous cycle in some societies. It appears to be a vicious cycle in India. The challenge, of course, is to first arrest the cycle and then reverse it. Theatre arts cannot be sustained without a truly developmental process. For theatre to be truly vibrant and sustainable, it must be genuinely integrated into a socio-cultural context with component features of the larger body that must all grow and develop in a necessarily interdependent way.
In this era of shortened attention spans and constant access to entertainment, how can theatre remain relevant?
It is obvious that simple cause-effect explanations are unhelpful. Attendance at theatre performances is affected by multiple factors—e.g., insane traffic conditions, increasingly long hours at the workplace, alternatives available in the comfort of home, people increasingly distanced from dramatic literature, poor exposure … and so on. I am increasingly convinced that a systemic solution to all of the above is beyond the capability of any single theatre organisation. This may be possible only if all performance-related organisations collaborate and act upon it in an institutionalised manner.
Could you talk about your own journey in theatre?
Since when have I been in drama? Since birth! My appearance in this world must have been dramatic – nine years after the third child in the family.
My first school was in Allahabad. It was a Hindi-medium school. I was pushed into a school play. I remember being terrified and hated it.
The other thing I remember about my school-going years was that I was left largely to myself. There was a big age difference between my siblings and I. As a somewhat lonely child, I had one constant companion: my imagination.
Later in life, two Scotsmen gave me my first serious exposure to the theatre. The first was Dr J.R. Macphail, a professor at Madras Christian College and an authority in dramaturgy. The other was Scott Tod, one of the founders of BLT.
Theatre, for me, is a pursuit. A deeply involving pursuit. The longest lasting of several pursuits. Each of these has taken much of my time and involvement and has had accomplishments, not just dabbling. Photography, shooting and firearms, automobile engine overhauling, electro-acoustic and hi-fi systems, woodwork, singing, and swimming, among others. They came and went. Drama remained. But it has always been clear to me that it is a pursuit. Nothing more, nothing less. I am not a “theatre person”. I am not wedded to the theatre. The theatre is an enduring mistress. A very possessive one.
Can you talk about your more recent foray into writing?
I came into writing late in this journey. I had already done a lot of acting, directing, and stagecraft, which I suppose helped. I found that when I was writing, I was always visualising the stage and the action. Many have remarked on the “action bias” in my writing.
BLT decided to felicitate me on my 80th birthday. They planned a festival of my plays and the publication of all my plays. I reminded the management committee that it was also BLT’s Diamond Jubilee year and that it would be more appropriate to position the plays as a BLT publication project. I accepted to be the series editor. Ten volumes of plays are in the project. Six are already out. The remaining four should be released very soon.
More recently, I began to explore the craft of the short story. I loved it, especially the “economy of force” it demanded of me. After several one-on-one exchanges and private readings in small groups, I took the plunge and submitted several manuscripts for publication. Thirty-five short stories will come out in two volumes very soon.
You’ve often spoken about how your management career (Vijay is also the director and co-founder of The P&P Group, a management resource centre) and work in the theatre were complementary, with both drawing from behavioural sciences. Can you tell me more about this?
BLT started training people seriously in the 80s. I was influenced greatly by the Stella Adler system of actor training (I subsequently developed a long association with the Stella Adler Studio.) I soon discovered that the best actor training techniques have a great deal of behavioural science underneath. Theatre folks generally do not recognise the “science’‘ in their work. They look at it as ‘‘art’‘. This was the start of my bridging the worlds of management and theatre. While at IIM Bangalore, I developed a whole new field called Theatre in Management. I have been quite happy riding these two horses.
I know you have stepped away from BLT’s day-to-day operations. Can you discuss the organisation’s belief system regarding succession planning and continuity?
As early as 1962, BLT gave itself a constitution as part of the group’s effort to govern itself professionally while maintaining its amateur, non-profit status. One of the several principles advocated by Scott Tod was that as early as possible in the life of any theatre group, we must invest in leadership development—new directors, administrators, and production teams.
In fact, we had a new president in the third year itself, replacing Tod! Years later, before the restructuring, BLT took on a strategic planning exercise to look at the non-profit theatre scene – both within India and abroad. It was an eye-opener. First, the average active life of a theatre group was 5-6 years. After that, the banner remained, to be taken out when a sponsor announced a theatre festival, but otherwise, it was only a group in name.
One of the main reasons for the group’s short life was that it depended heavily on one person for its activities—the founder-director. This is the single most significant drawback seen in arts organisations.
We at BLT continue to promote good practices in the management of theatre and performing Arts organisations. On the invitation of an international agency, we prepared a three-day workshop for this. Some organisations have followed up with invitations for customised management development inputs. Bangalore Little Theatre itself is a case study. If we have survived and thrived over 63 years, we must have done something right!
