Talking Theatre with Chanakya Vyas

All the world’s a stage, but only some still perceive it that way. Chanakya Vyas, artistic director of Indian Ensemble, gives us a glimpse into the world of theatre. 

Chanakya Vyas is currently the Artistic Director of Indian Ensemble. He is a director, playwright and educator. As a director, his most recent credits include Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana, which he adapted and directed in Gujarati using elements of the popular folk form Bhavai; and Mi’raj, a play written by Nisha Abdulla that has run for the past year in alternate spaces in Bangalore. He works as a facilitator and pedagogue at the Head Start Educational Academy, Bangalore.

His first play, Tales of Kutty, won the first runner-up at the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards. In 2014, he received the Charles Wallace India Trust Award to study Devised Theatre & Performance Making at LISPA, London and recently got a fellowship to attend the Summer Institute at Columbia Centre for Oral History Research, New York towards developing his first non-fiction book project.

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We got in touch with Chanakya to shoot the breeze about theatre, managing money and how the two are inexplicably linked.

• Hey Chanakya, how’s it going? What have you been up to lately?

We have just begun work on our new play ‘algorithms’, which I have written and which I’m directing as well. It’s a great team to work with. Apart from that, there are a couple of other projects that are in the pipeline which will take shape later this year or early next year. Also, it’s been a few months since I took over as the Artistic Director of Indian Ensemble, so yes, I’m also charting out a roadmap for the company. Let’s see how it all shapes out in the end!

• How long has it been since you shifted to full-time theatre?

I don’t know if there is something like full-time theatre. Most theatre artistes do several things to support themselves and their work. I started theatre in 2007 with Abhishek Majumdar and then in between, there was the usual gig like a corporate job etc. It was from 2010 that I decided to leave my corporate job and moved into teaching and making theatre. That was also when I started teaching theatre at a school and have been working there ever since, as I also enjoy working with children.

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• Can you tell us what inspired you most to get into theatre?

This might sound a bit vague, but the fact that anything was possible in theatre is what excited me the most. From a small idea to a full-length play, the fact that theatre can accommodate so many forms and ideas at once is what fascinated me. I always wanted to write and there’s something about dialogue and dialogical imagination which I find challenging, and also at the same time liberating. The dialogues in a play are not dictated by grammatical rules but rather by observing and putting your ear to the ground and by listening to different people talk, understanding dialects, language etc.

All of this, and of course, the sheer nervousness and charm of being on stage and being applauded is also a huge inspiration. And most importantly, it’s the people I was lucky to work and learn from in the theatre world starting from Abhishek Majumdar to Neel Chaudhuri to Shri Heisnam Kanhaiahlal and so many others. There was so much to learn, think and experiment. It was like being a part of an ever-expanding creative community. It’s like a bug. One may leave theatre but theatre doesn’t leave you.

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4) What, according to you, are the most challenging aspects of making a living out of art?

Of course, one needs money to survive and especially in the kind of world we currently live in, money has become time. So, the struggle is, when do you find time to make art? And by time, I don’t mean only in the sense of realistic time like number of hours etc., but also the time to read, to go deeper, ask questions, write, ponder, dream. One thing has to be understood – art is about desire. And no one pays for your desires. So, one has to fight for that time in between everything that we do to survive and find time to fulfill our desires. And that is the real challenge. What do you choose and what do you reject? It’s all about that- making the right choices.

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5) Do you see a commercially viable future for theatre professionals in India?

Well, there is a shift. It’s slow and gradual but there is. Although I know it’s not enough, it is why there is a constant need to collaborate and engage with the society and the people for whom we make theatre. The state and government grants are very limited and even within that, there is the favouritism. And then there are a handful of grants that are available for making new work.

So, the onus is also on theatre artists to look for new ways to pursue and engage with patrons who are interested in theatre and the arts in general. And trust me, there are many who want to be a part of the arts community but artists often don’t engage with them. And of course, by this, I don’t mean one has to be friends, but one has to build the right conversations and find ways to create more patrons since even historically, arts survived on patronage. And patronage is built on trust and trust is built through continuity. Hence, the onus is on the artist to continue creating work which is new, exciting and high quality.

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6) Some financial advice you can share that will help future theatre aspirants?

Well, I don’t think I can advise. But I can maybe say that if one wants to make a life in theatre and arts, then one has to give it the same time, commitment and rigor that a doctor, lawyer, journalist, researcher, scientist etc. give to their work. It cannot be treated as a hobby if you want to make a career of it.

If there is rigor, the quality of work will raise the bar by itself and that will also open up new opportunities of finding work that pays. And there is also the possibility of having a daytime job or a part-time job which can take care of your monthly expenses, and the rest of the time can be spent in making work. Lots of us do that. But nevertheless, time is non-negotiable. I think everyone has ideas but only a few get transposed into creative expressions.

7) How would you describe the money requirements for any production/show?

It depends. It is largely driven by the vision that one has for the play. One can make a play in Rs. 25-30k and also up to Rs. 2-5 lakhs and even more. Again, all of this depends on a lot of external factors like one’s positioning in the arts and culture industry, one’s style and the resources available. A new group will have to start on a shoestring budget and slowly with their work they will be able to raise more money and get more shows.

Festivals usually enable a lot of groups to sustain their plays. But again, one is not bound only by that. The best plays that I have seen which have sustained for a long time and have been financially viable are the ones which have been performed consistently, since a play evolves and grows with time, unlike a film. So, the money requirements keep varying and one has to go through it and figure out the best model that works for a group. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all kind of model.

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8) How does your wife, Shruti and your dog, Anna, deal with your rather unusual work timings?

Well, I don’t think I have unusual work timings. Over the period of years, I have managed to find that balance. Also, one is not always in rehearsals. But then there is preparation that goes on before one starts new work. We do make sure that Sundays are spent with family but again it depends on what one is doing that month. As I write, the next four weeks are going to be spent completely in rehearsals. I guess that’s part of the fun – to break the monotony every now and then.