february 2017

volume 6 • issue 7

CARLO RIZZIMARIA JOSÉ SIRI SIMON O’NEILL

ON StageINTERNATIONAL STARS AT THE NCPA

Contents10

Features

08Reflections On the new ghoda at Kala Ghoda. By Anil Dharker

10 In the Bohemian QuarterThe old and the new collude to reveal the essence of a Puccini classic in La Bohème Revisited, the NCPA’s fourth opera production with the Symphony Orchestra of India. By Beverly Pereira

14-19The Interviews Tenor Simon O’NeillSoprano Maria José SiriMezzo-soprano Kai Rüütel

20The Young and Restless To make a living out of Indian classical music is a Herculean struggle, as promising musicians who have taken the stage for NCPA Umang attest. By Aratrika Saha

NCPA ChairmanKhushroo N. Suntook

Executive Director & Council MemberDeepak Bajaj

Editorial DirectorRadhakrishnan Nair

Editor-in-Chief

Oishani Mitra

Consulting EditorEkta Mohta

Editorial Co-ordinatorHilda Darukhanawalla

Assistant Art DirectorsHemali Limbachiya

Tanvi Shah

Graphic DesignerVidhi Doshi

AdvertisingAnita Maria Pancras

(advertising@ncpamumbai.com; 66223820) Tulsi Bavishi

(tulsi@mansworldindia.com; 9833116584)

Digital ArtistJayesh V. Salvi

Cover CreditsTessa Traeger (Carlo Rizzi); Lisa Kohler (Simon O’Neill)

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Conversing with the Gods The 18th-century painter, Manaku, and his work. By Dr. B. N. Goswamy

28Laughter TherapyGet ready to welcome the sparkling sequel to the stage hit Laughter in the House, promising to be even bigger and better than its inaugural run

30Ideas and the Man An insatiable producer of ideas, Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw would be delighted to see his plays forging through the ages to provoke generations to come. By Karishma Attari

34The designer in the theatreNissar Allana takes us through the history and evolution of stage design

36The Bird Watcher Presenting photographer Sameer Shah’s lifelong tryst with our feathered friends

39Programme GuideAll of February’s events at the NCPA

48What’s NextWhat to look forward to in the coming months

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please do drop us an email at onstage@ncpamumbai.com.

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COVER STORY

The old and the new collude to reveal the essence of a Puccini classic in La Bohème Revisited, the NCPA’s fourth opera production with the Symphony Orchestra of India. By Beverly Pereira

Maria Mudryak will play Musetta in La Bohème Revisited

PRODUCTION

In the Bohemian District

I n the Symphony Orchestra of India’s (SOI) production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème this month, the orchestra will literally take centre stage at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre. The decision to move out

of the traditional pit and on to the stage is but one of the new elements audiences can expect from La Bohème Revisited, part of the current season of the SOI. An international star cast will interpret the four acts along with the orchestra, traversing the lives, loves and losses of the opera’s all-too-familiar characters, under the guiding hand of renowned Italian stage director and actor Sax Nicosia.

The ultimate operatic tribute to the vagaries of youth, Puccini’s four-act mid-winter tragedy has been performed thousands of times since its premiere in 1896. And yet, it never fails to enthral. Set in the Latin Quarter of bohemian Paris of the 1830s, it draws inspiration from the semi-autobiographical collection of stories by French novelist Henri Murger. Such scenes as in the tempestuous Rodolfo-Mimi romance; the enduring friendship shared by the amicable bohemians; or even Musetta’s path from vain glory to empathy, take the audience on an inexorable journey that vacillates between a gambit of emotions – from pure happiness to utter pathos and shades of jealousy. “The most fascinating thing about these characters is their hunger for life and emotions,” says Nicosia. “I like to imagine Mimi as a love-thirsty soul, and I’m not the first director to see her this way. Rodolfo, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline are the perfect group of friends just as ready to have fun, as they are to sacrifice for each other. They are bound to an unwritten agreement, one that I would like our audience to see.”

A NEW TAKE ON A CLASSIC Nicosia’s vision of an innovative new production does not by any means represent a departure from the traditional. In fact, it stays true to the beloved Puccini masterpiece, complete

with sweeping melodies and unexpected shocks. Murger set his novel in the 1840s, and this production will do the same. The generous libretto by playwright/librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, backed by extracts from the novel, ensures that the audience is deeply

involved in every scene. Quite simply, La Bohème Revisited remains respectful of the evergreen opera, magnanimous in its portrayal of tender human emotions, yet tragic within the bounds of possibility. It calls the audience to empathise with its protagonists through Puccini’s score, lush in gaiety and despair. It is also suspected that the performance, as familiar as the opera’s plot and characters might be, will surprise and, in all probability, tug afresh at the heartstrings of the seasoned operagoer.

La Bohème Revisited is a semi-staged production with minimal sets, no chorus and an innovative production mechanism that maximises resources. For one, one of Italy’s greatest conductors Carlo Rizzi, who conducts La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera this season, will be at the helm of the opening show. The 75-odd members of the orchestra will be under the baton of the SOI’s associate music director Zane Dalal the following two evenings. The production pulled a coup in this respect as well as in the quality of its international star cast. “The making of this production

La Bohème Revisited calls the audience to empathise with its

protagonists through Puccini’s score, lush in

gaiety and despair

Olena Tokar plays Mimi

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has been quite intricate and has gone through several phases,” says Nicosia. In fact, the idea of placing the orchestra onstage existed from the very beginning. “My idea, then, always had this element in mind: the orchestra will be a visible element as part of the story and will act as a living set design,” he explains.

EVOKING A BYGONE ERAAn enormous golden frame, not unlike the gilded frame of a precious 1800s painting, will define the entire proscenium. Inside it, in the background, will be the orchestra, and towards the proscenium will be the opera singers in all their glory and a few stage props. A tulle scrim, suspended from the stage ceiling in front of the artistes and the orchestra, will serve as a transparent screen on which, at different moments, iconographic suggestions and original drawings created by Italian artist Francesco Calcagnini will be projected. The light-hearted happiness of Café Momus, which defines Act 2, will be as vivid as it was intended to be, as will other scenes from the opera.

Specific lighting effects, sensitively created by lighting designer Alberto Giolitti, will place the soloists together with the projected art works, creating an atmospheric, almost ethereal, setting. At times, videos specially created by the Turin-based video design company D-Wok will be projected on the scrim, adding a touch of magic to the production. Props include meticulously sourced period furniture, while costumes that reflect the well-worn clothing of Paris’s struggling artists were ideated by Nicosia and executed by the costume department, led by Daena Sethna.

If the seminal idea of placing the orchestra onstage and using technology to maximise visual appeal are novelties that make for an innovative production, the addition of a whole new character isn’t far behind in this respect. La Bohème Revisited introduces the character of the novelist Murger that will be interpreted by Nicosia. “Murger’s character does nothing but enrich the experience. He is the one carrying us into the plot that he himself has created. In the original libretto, just as a preface to each act, Giacosa and Illica included a fragment from the novel that would introduce what was going to happen. I will recite precisely those words that will enrich the story with details and nuances typical of a narrator,” he says.

BEHIND THE SCENESSince January this year, the production team has worked towards pre-production plans, scheduling every minute of the all-important rehearsal phase. Nicosia knew that it would be a race against time once rehearsals were in full swing, but he says that it was of great help that all the artistes had sung the opera on several

prior occasions. Much earlier, NCPA Chairman and SOI founder Khushroo N. Suntook and collaborator Gian Ganzarolli spent months on the screening process. Mr. Suntook speaks for the entire team when he says that putting together this production was tiring yet fun because “every single person involved enjoys what he or she does”.

On the challenges faced in putting up

this production, Nicosia says, “The opera we are talking about is an example of what we call realism set to music. Facing this kind of repertoire implies specific technical efforts on all production levels, from the musical to the staging and acting areas. Being faithful to the text is probably the greatest challenge a sincere artiste may have to face.” He adds, “Technology isn’t anything else but a working tool that we normally face and live with, remembering, I believe, that it should always be in the service of the plot.”

Opera – whether informed by human experience or larger-than-life feats of mythical proportion – undeniably promotes escapism, even if just for a few hours. As responsible operagoers sit down to listen to Puccini’s music and to Giacosa and Illica’s libretto, they will be transported sublimely back in time with that incredible feeling of being young and immortal all over again.

La Bohème Revisited will be staged on 8th February under the baton of Carlo Rizzi and on 9th and 11th February under the baton of Zane Dalal at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre.

In its main approach, La Bohème Revisited remains respectful of the evergreen opera

Long Zhang plays Rodolfo

La Bohème Revisited is being guided by renowned Italian

stage director Sax Nicosia

NCPA February 2017 • 13

COVER STORY

A native of New Zealand, Simon O’Neill has established himself as one of the finest helden-tenors on the international stage. He is a principal artiste with the Metropolitan Opera; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro alla Scala; and both the Bayreuth and Salzburg festivals, appearing with a number of illustrious conductors including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle. His Siegmund in Die Walküre has been described in the international press as “an exemplary Siegmund, terrific of voice”, “THE Wagnerian tenor of his generation” and “a turbo-charged tenor”.

This February, O’Neill joins the Symphony Orchestra of India for the Opera Gala under conductor Carlo Rizzi as well as performs in a recital. In an email interview, he talks to ON Stage about his musical journey.

Can you please tell us a bit about your journey? How does someone from Ashburton make it to the biggest opera houses in the world? I have always wanted to be a musician – my journey has led me from a small South Island New Zealand town to many of the greatest cities in the world because of my love for music.

How were you initiated into music? Along with playing rugby and cricket, like most kids in New Zealand, my parents offered me lessons in piano and brass instruments from a young age. Much of my earliest memories in music-making are playing the 2nd baritone horn in the Ashburton Silver Band. During my later years of high school, I started singing in a rock band and in the school choir along with musicals. By the age of 16, I wanted to be a singer.

How did Juilliard shape you as an artiste? Who were the teachers, mentors and conductors who had the biggest impact on you?

The Juilliard School is one of the finest music conservatories on the planet. In 2000, I was accepted into the Juilliard Opera Center to study with their esteemed faculty – this was a huge honour for me. I had the opportunity to work my voice with the greatest – Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti. Along with these two superstars I was very lucky to be in the vocal studio of Marlena Malas, Nico Castel, the director Frank Corsaro and the great conductor Julius Rudel.

Could you please describe your relationship with Plácido Domingo?In 2004, I was asked to audition for a modest role in a Mozart opera at the Metropolitan Opera. To my absolute amazement, as I walked up Broadway after the audition I was called on the mobile and offered the biggest break of my career – that of becoming the cover, the understudy of the great Plácido Domingo. Plácido is my idol and has been extremely generous to

me over the past 10 years – from working together in the role of Siegmund at the Met and Covent Garden to helping me prepare for the role of Otello.

You’ve mentioned how you were bitten by the “Wagner bug”. Can you please elaborate on that? The music of Richard Wagner, while it was introduced to me at an earlier age through brass music, was not on my singing radar until I was studying at The Juilliard School in New York City. The greatest New Zealand Wagnerian, Sir Donald McIntyre, took me under his wing and has supported me through the studying and performing the demanding roles of Wagner. I just love singing those roles – as I write to you now, in two hours I will be singing Act 1 of Siegfried with the great conductor Jaap van Zweden for the first time – so excited!

Can you please tell us about some of the favourite characters that you’ve performed onstage? And, why? The Wagnerian roles of Siegmund, Lohengrin and Parsifal have given me

a career in the finest opera houses and concert halls of the world. It is the greatest honour to perform these roles. That being said, I love Italian repertoire equally – Verdi’s Otello, Giordano’s Andrea Chénier and, of course, the Puccini roles for tenor, Cavaradossi and Rodolfo. The first few months of this year is proving to be a huge learning experience for me as I debut in many new roles – Wagner’s Siegfried in Götterdämmerung and Boris in Janáček’s Káťa Kabanová. I am very busy studying at the moment.

Can you please talk about your experiences of performing at the Met, La Scala and ROH? These three houses have given me the greatest thrills of my career. My debut at the Met was Mozart’s Idomeneo with James Levine conducting. I returned to perform Siegmund in the Otto Schenk production of Die Walküre and again in the new Lepage production of the ‘Ring’. The role of Siegmund took me to Teatro alla Scala with Daniel Barenboim and in both 2007 and 2012 with Sir Antonio Pappano at Covent Garden. I am extremely honoured to have had the opportunity to sing at those houses along with many more.

What inspired you to be among the best in your field? My mother inspires me with her incredible work ethic. My parents taught me that hard work and persistence are extremely important, and I guess I have taken those principles along with me throughout my career in opera. What inspires me? The music, the music, the music.

You performed with the Symphony Orchestra of India in 2015. How was your experience? And, what are you looking forward to in your upcoming performance? Two years ago I took my first trip to India and made my debut with the Symphony Orchestra of India. It was the same time as the cricket World Cup in New Zealand and Australia, so I was in the right city for my love of cricket and that of making music. I immediately fell in love with Mumbai and had a blast performing with the orchestra. It is a great thrill to return to India to perform great music again with you all.

Simon O’Neill will join the Symphony Orchestra of India and conductor Carlo Rizzi on 2nd February at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre. O’Neill will also perform in recital on 5th February at the Tata Theatre.6 • December 2013 NCPA

SIMON O’NEILL

NCPA February 2017 • 15

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TENOR

A“Wagnerian roles have

given me a career in the finest opera houses

and concert halls of the world”

SIMON O’NEILL

A

COVER STORY

Rising star soprano Maria José Siri recently opened La Scala’s 2016/17 season as the protagonist of Madama Butterfly under Riccardo Chailly. Other highlights of her season include Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Chailly with the Teatro alla Scala on tour to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and then the Berliner Philharmonic, once again under Chailly; Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Regio of Turin, Teatro San Carlo of Naples and Grand Théâtre of Geneva; Tosca at Semperoper in Dresden and Deutsche Oper in Berlin; Maddalena di Coigny in Andrea Chénier at Deutsche Oper Berlin and at the Teatro dell’Opera of Rome.

The Uruguayan soprano began her vocal studies at the Escuela Nacional de Arte Lírico, Montevideo, completing them at the Paris Conservatory and with Ileana Cotrubas in Nizza and Vienna. Siri performed her first operatic roles on the stages of her native country and in Argentina, making her European operatic debut in 2008 as Leonora in Il Trovatore in Genoa under the musical direction of Bruno Bartoletti. Engagements since then have led her to the most prestigious opera theatres and festivals worldwide. Siri has worked with conductors Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andrea Battistoni, Gianandrea Noseda, Renato Palumbo, Donato Renzetti, Plácido Domingo, Pinchas Steinberg and Michele Mariotti.

This February, Siri will join the Symphony Orchestra of India for the Opera Gala under conductor Carlo Rizzi. In an email interview, she talks to ON Stage about her musical journey.

Can you please tell us a bit about your journey? How were you initiated into music? My father bought me a piano when I was five years old. I learned to read music before words so the language of music is the first form of communication I was initiated into.

Could you please describe the classical music scene in Uruguay?We have a very good tradition of opera and classical music since we are mostly from Italian or Spanish families. In Uruguay, we appreciate, learn and promote the arts.

Who were the teachers, mentors and conductors who had the biggest impact on you?My first singing teacher was, I think, the most important since she helped me discover my voice and guided me to becoming a lyric soprano. Her name was Gilda Dolara. Another very important teacher in my life was Ileana Cotrubas. I met her in a singing competition and after that I started to travel from Uruguay to Europe to work with her until I set my technical voice and repertoire. In the last two years I have studied my debut roles with Raina Kavaibanska.

Can you please tell us which are some of the most favourite characters that you’ve performed onstage? And, why?I love Norma. I just sang it once but it

was an unbelievable production. I really enjoyed playing this very strong character. It was my bel canto debut so it was a very important point in my career as well. I also love Madama Butterfly. Puccini lives very deep in my heart and this debut was an incredible and positive surprise for me. I also love Manon Lescaut and Suor Angelica.

From Verdi, I love the Requiem. I think it is one of the highest works of all sacred music and I also love Andrea Chénier from Umberto Giordano.

Can you please elaborate on what Verdi's music means to you?Singing Verdi is like going to vocal school for me. I learnt to sing bel canto with Verdi, and I learnt to respect the natural maturity of my voice with him.

How was your experience of working with Mr. Zubin Mehta?It was amazing to work with him. Destiny is so funny that I’ve sung only Aida with him – first in Florence, then at La Scala, and then in Moscow.

Can you please tell us what are you looking forward to from your February 2017 concert with the Symphony Orchestra of India?It's going to be my first time in India and I'm looking forward to learning more about your culture as well as Mumbai city.

Maria José Siri will join the Symphony Orchestra of India and conductor Carlo Rizzi on 2nd February at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre.

6 • December 2013 NCPA

NCPA February 2017 • 17

SOPRANO

R“From Verdi, I love

the Requiem. I think it is one of the highest works of all

sacred music”

MARIA JOSÉ SIRI

R

MARIA JOSÉ SIRI

COVER STORY

Since her graduation from the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme (JPYAP) in 2011, Estonian mezzo-soprano Kai Rüütel has been engaged at the Royal Opera House, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real, Vlaamse Opera, Gran Teatro del Liceu, Scottish Opera, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse and Dallas Opera. A consummate singer and actress, she has collaborated with directors such as Robert Carsen, Laurent Pelly, Keith Warner and Calixto Beito.

Rüütel studied at the Georg Ots Music School in Tallinn and then at the Koninklijk Conservatorium of the Hague and the Dutch National Opera Academy, graduating from the Masters programme with special honours. Rüütel won first prize in the National Competition for Young Classical Singers in Estonia three years in a row from 2001-03.

This February, Rüütel will join the Symphony Orchestra of India for the Opera Gala under conductor Carlo Rizzi as well as perform in a recital with tenor Simon O’Neill. In an email interview, she talks to ON Stage about her musical journey.

Can you please tell us a bit about your journey? How were you initiated into music? Estonia has a very strong choral singing culture, and like many others, I have been singing ever since I can remember. I also went to a music-biased class throughout my school, so music has always been a part of my education as well. I was a member of the Estonian Television Concert Choir in the mid 1990s, which gave me an introduction to classical music – even though at that point, as a teenager, I was much more inclined to becoming a pop star.

In 2003 I decided to take classical singing more seriously, and I moved to Holland to study at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague. I still wasn’t entirely convinced that this was the right discipline for me, but when I was asked to take on the lead role

in La Tragedie du Carmen by the head of the Dutch National Opera Academy (DNOA) during my last year, I realised that I had found exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life – opera. I entered the Opera Academy for my Masters degree right after that and my journey to becoming an opera singer began.

Do talent competitions have any impact on your artistry? I only participated in the competition for young classical singers in Estonia at the beginning of my studies, and although winning it three years in a row did give me the confidence to study abroad, I can’t say it had any real impact on my actual artistry.

How did the JPYAP influence you as an artiste? JPYAP had an enormous impact on my artistry – both, professionally and personally.

It is an incredible opportunity to work with some of the best artistes in the business, and you learn the most by actually being onstage and doing the job. The Young Artists also have a big say in what they want to work on while in the programme. They provide you with coaching in anything you need for the job – be it languages, acting, movement or even sessions with a performance psychologist.

I entered JPYAP straight after my Masters studies at the DNOA and I felt I had an enormous amount of work to do to get to the same level as my colleagues. However, the way the programme is constructed allowed me to concentrate on what I needed most, and by the end of the first year, the stage of the Royal Opera House, that once seemed like the most daunting place on earth, started feeling like home. It is hard to pinpoint what I gained the most from the JPYAP because there is not a single aspect of my development that wasn’t enhanced by the programme.

Who were the teachers and mentors who had the biggest impact on you? There are many people who have been and are still a part of my journey, and I cherish all of them, but I think the person who has had the biggest impact on me is my singing teacher, Jon Thorsteinsson, who saved my voice and continues to guide me through the wonders of the vocal instrument.

Can you please tell us your experience of performing at the Royal Opera House? As I mentioned earlier, it was daunting at first, but not for long. The staff there is incredibly professional and they do everything in their power so that you, as an artiste, can just concentrate on the job and don’t have to worry about anything else. The acoustics are wonderful and even though the auditorium seats over 2,250 people, it still feels quite intimate.

My most memorable performance was when I had to step in with a 50-minute notice as Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel during my second year as a Young Artist. It could have been very scary and difficult, but since they do very thorough cover rehearsals at ROH, I felt completely ready to do it – albeit never even having sung it with the orchestra.

Which are your favourite characters that you’ve performed onstage? And, why?Hänsel is definitely one of my favourites. I think there’s a part of me that can really relate to a grumpy, hungry, naughty boy – so it’s fun to let it out to play once in a while. I love Charlotte in Werther. Of course, it’s musically an absolutely gorgeous part, but I also find her struggle between love and desire and vows and fidelity interesting.

Can you please tell us what are you looking forward to from your February 2017 concert with the Symphony Orchestra of India? I have never been to India before, so I am very much looking forward to discovering the country and its musical traditions. And, of course, it’s always interesting to collaborate with new artistes.

Kai Rüütel will join the Symphony Orchestra of India and conductor Carlo Rizzi on 2nd February at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre. Rüütel will also join Simon O’Neill in recital on 5th February at the Tata Theatre. 6 • December 2013 NCPA

KAI RÜÜTEL

NCPA February 2017 • 19

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KAI RÜÜTEL

“Hänsel is one of my favourites.

I think there’s a part of me that can

really relate to a grumpy, hungry,

naughty boy”

S

The realisation of scenic design as part of a theatre totality in India needs special consideration, all the more because of its marked absence, as an entity in itself, in the tradition of Indian folk and classical theatre. If stage design in India in the past 150 years has been influenced by Western concepts, which, in fact, it has, what form is it going to take in modern Indian theatre? The search for a new and contemporary form of theatre during the past 30 years leaves an open field for the evolution of scenic design as a significant force in the totality of the dramatic medium.

THE FULL CIRCLEThe most primitive form of Greek theatre consisted of a tamped circle, which was the ‘acting’ area, around which the audience stood or sat on benches. Later, actual theatres were carved out from mountain slopes in the form of steps for seating, and a flattened circular area called the orchestra, at the bottom of the slope, which was the performing area. The curved bowl-shaped auditorium covered two-thirds of a circle around the performing area; the remaining one-third was left open to the landscape. Performances in the vast scale of the theatre and landscape took the form of mass choral recitation

and singing. With the introduction of the ‘actor’ by Thespis and with playwriting, a hut was constructed in the open one-third of the auditorium. This hut was meant for the actor to change his costume and mask so as to portray two or more characters during the course of the performance. The hut was called ‘skene’, which literally meant ‘scene’. This practical innovation became the first man-made scenic background, besides serving its function as a changing room. Later the skene became elaborated into different shapes and sizes, with an increasing emphasis on its visual appearance, and in its use by the actor during performances. Doors were introduced to enable the actor to make dramatic entrances or wheel out on a mobile platform bodies of characters

killed offstage. When the skene became a double-storeyed building, supported by pillars, paintings were placed between these pillars to increase the visual beauty of the skene. The raised level also gave the individual actor a prominent position to emphasise his stature and physique in relation to the body of the chorus, which performed in the orchestra’s region.

The Roman theatre, though conceptually similar to the Greek, became important in so far as it extended the scenic concept. First of all, the skene, orchestra and auditorium were unified into a single building. The auditorium and orchestra became semi-circular, bringing the skene closer to the audience, and proportionately increasing its size. The façade of the skene building became much more elaborately decorated, with a long, narrow, horizontal stage in front of it, derived from the first storey of the Greek skene. Two important features are brought into focus from the above description. Firstly, the idea that man could construct his environment or scenic background became a new consciousness in the theatre. Secondly, there was a relationship between the actor and his surroundings, which affected one another and evolved a different form of performance.

THE MEDIEVAL THEATREThe next important milestone is the birth of the medieval theatre around the 9th or 10th century, a few centuries after the decline of the Roman theatre. The intermediate period, the Dark Ages, was a period when the theatre was officially banned by the Church. Ironically enough, the medieval theatre had its origins within the church itself. This took the form of dramatisation of episodes from the Bible and from the lives of saints. To begin with, these events took place in front of the altar and gave rise to tremendous spectacle in the architecture of and against the painted and ornamental walls of the church. It was accompanied by music and choral singing and recitation. Gradually, in order to illustrate the stories further, separate

The designer in the theatreON Stage brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988 and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. Nissar Allana takes us through the history and evolution of stage design

ARCHIVES

Model of the Roman theatre

booths were built to depict different locales, and these included heaven and hell. The booths were then moved onto the steps outside the church, heaven being placed on the topmost step and hell on the lowermost. The action, expressing different aspects of life, shifted from one booth to the next. This idea was then exploited by the guilds, which set up immensely ornate booths in the marketplace or in courtyards, arranging them in circular or square formations.

The most striking feature of this period is the extreme visualisation of the dramatic form and the increasing emphasis on the use of visual elements in conveying ideas, thereby creating a visual language for the theatre. An important aspect of the Greco-Roman and medieval periods is the visual scale. Whereas the former, in relation to the actor, is vast, the latter is extremely reduced in size – both resulting in a spatial imbalance between the performer and his environment. Drama in both cases, being associated with religion, became a vehicle to convey these ideas.

THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE It is essentially during the Italian renaissance that one perceives the genesis of the form of modern theatre. The absence of religious ideas and the emphasis on the life and circumstance of man changed the entire perspective and attitude of dramatic performances. The theatres that were then constructed, of which the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza is a classic example, were in the scale and proportion of man, even though architecturally they were Roman. The skene here reached an extreme degree of decoration. Its beautiful three-dimensional façade had five passages built within its architecture, on a raked floor with perspective vistas showing through the doorways. Modifications were made in later theatres whereby the stage floor area was increased and wings and the proscenium arch were introduced. Scenery took the form of backdrops, painted in three-dimensional perspective showing different locales in front of which the actors performed. This kind of scenery marked the emergence of the scene painter in the theatre, then the scenic designer.

This preoccupation with the third dimension made it possible to create a visual extension of space. Because of its easy manoeuvrability, it was possible to change the scenery several times. It was now necessary to extend the third dimension spatially, whereby the action could move into its space and relate to

the actor’s body. This did not take long to occur and the period from the 17th to the 19th centuries was one of intense dramatic activity in Europe. All this set the scene for the critical and dynamic changes the 20th century was to bring into theatre and modern scenic design.

TWO DESIGNERSIt was finally with the work of Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig at the beginning of the 20th century that stage design in its most contemporary form came into existence. They expressed an integrated relationship of space, time and the actor in its purest form, and changed the entire concept of scenic design and the part it played in the theatre of the 20th century. With Appia, the concept of the mise-en-scene, as being ‘scenery’ within which the action took place, or one which represented a decorative element pleasing to the eye, completely lost its earlier significance. He reformed these ideas by stressing the basic elements that form dimension itself – time, space

and motion. Undoubtedly influenced by Wagner, he maintained that the stage setting participated actively in the performance, as did the actor. He related the plasticity of the actor to the plasticity of spatial dimension. Appia considered poetry, music and language developing as a progression in time, whereas painting, architecture and sculpture developing progressively in space. Since theatre was addressed both to the eye and the ear, it should be possible to reconcile space and time into a unity. He expressed a relationship between the movement created by the vertical and horizontal planes, inherent in design, to the actual movement of the actor, which animated, expanded or contracted space when such a confrontation occurred.

It is no longer possible to separate man from his environment, as the actor from his. We live in a world that shapes us and we create environments that change because of our presence. This very sense of confrontation and change reflects experience and animates matter and space. All this must evolve and be seen through design, as a process, and not an end product. In this sense it becomes imperative for the modern actor to experience the spirit of his surroundings and understand his relation to it and the part he is to play in expressing this totality. This goes beyond, yet encompasses his talent and technique as an actor, into an area much wider than just himself, but one in which he plays the supreme role of integrator.

This article first appeared in the NCPA Quarterly Journal in December 1975 (Vol. IV, No. 4).

The Roman theatre, though conceptually similar to the Greek, became important in so far as it extended the scenic concept

34 • February 2017 NCPA NCPA February 2017 • 35

A. Appia and E. G. Craig expressed

an integrated relationship between space, time and the actor, and changed

the entire concept of scenic design

Saved by Edward Bond; set by Nissar Allana