Pragati Mehra
Pandemic impacted films too so theatre ain’t the only medium that lost out but as things inch back to normal, so will the theatre audience. It is just a matter of time. I haven’t seen anything in the past 2 years. The last I saw was Moulin Rouge in Paris just before the pandemic in 2019. I have realised I remember musicals more. Mughal-e-Azam by Firoz Abbas Khan is one such play. Also loved Moulin Rouge for its grandeur and scale
Namita Lal
Yes, it’s really sad as theatre is one of the best and biggest of the creative industries. I was also rehearsing for a play “Junglee Booti “ during the pandemic in Singapore and ultimately it had to be filmed as there was another lockdown. Theatre is an industry of crazy passionate people who love being on and around a stage. Now that the situation is normalising, people will come back to the theatre. There is no such experience as of watching a good play being performed. I have seen a lot of plays and I love watching musicals. When I go to London and New York, I watch big productions The last play I saw was Hamilton in Los Angeles. Every time I watch theatre, I want to be on the stage. My favourite plays are William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Hamlet and Macbeth. I also liked The Black Widow, Death of a Salesman, Broken Mirror, Ismat Aapa ke naam
Sudha Chandran
Well because of the pandemic the entire theatre industry has seen a very bad time because you couldn’t have crowds, but I think theatre will never die because there are theatre-loving people, so people will still go back to theatre. Infact, people have started coming back to the theatre to watch plays because those who are addicted to theatre and watching good plays definitely come back to the theatre. I am not a person who goes and watches plays. The last I saw was Vikram Kapadia’s play that was because I was working in K Street Pali Hill. I don’t have so much time to go and watch plays but I would love to see some really good plays because theatre is doing brilliantly well and when I used to perform on stage, the audience used to come and watch plays, we used to have full house even in morning 9 o clock. I just keep asking the director if people would come for a 9am show and he used to say ki open hone toh do baithne ki jagah bhi nhi hogi. I have missed on a lot of good plays because I am shooting
Vijayendra Kumeria
People who like to watch theatre will definitely resume going back to watch plays, its a matter of time. I watched a play in which a friend of mine was performing, to be honest, I haven’t watched much of theatre. I watched recordings of a few Gujarati as well as Hindi plays. I can’t pick one but I like comedy theatre more
Delnaaz Irani
The pandemic has really pushed everyone behind, especially the theatre goers, the audience, the actors. People who only thrive on doing plays, they have lost a lot. But now since everything has started again, theatre is going to bring a lot of happiness back again in the lives of people who love to go and watch theatre and the actors performing. Plays and theatres are not going anywhere. There is still a want for theatre. The last play that I watched was a fabulous Gujarati play called Safarjan. It was based on Kashmir. Today everybody is talking about Kashmir files, well just before the pandemic this play was running to packed houses. I have seen the play thrice. I wanted to experience a feeling with a crowd in town, with a crowd in Borivali, with a crowd in another city. I have seen the reaction of the crowd. People have cried, laughed and enjoyed this play. I cannot forget the visuals, they have actually got a shikara on stage so it was a treat to this eyes. The meaning of Safarjan in Gujarati means apple. I just saw it before the pandemic. My favourite play is the latest play that I have done that is called Wrong Number which had legends of comedy like Rakesh Bedi, Avatar Gill, Kishwar Merchant. It was directed by Raman Kumar Ji. It was too much fun. We have done 60plus shows. If the pandemic had not hit us we would have crossed 100 score
Dipna Patel
I feel both mediums have their own challenges, the stage as well as the screen. Theatre has already begun to thrive like before. I just performed in a show yesterday and have 3 more shows lined up for the weekend. Live performance has its own charm where you can feel the energy, the pain, the happiness to another extent, and there is a give and take between the audience and actors. Touch and smell are 2 senses that are a part of theatre along with hearing and seeing. For eg- someone eating a cake on stage or cutting a cake or making the audience involved in a live show. But When you are watching a film only 2 senses are involved. The last play I saw was in 2021 called Catch 22 by Tpot production in Prithvi. My favourite play was ‘That Goes Wrong’ that I saw while I was in Newyork. Also, Stories In a song- by Sunil Shanbaug and Doll – directed by Makarand Deshpande are some of my favorites
