The third of the webinar series by Nandanik, a theatre group based in Koraput, focused on the practice of scenography in India. Eminent theatre directors Prof Satyabrata Rout and Debesh Chattopadhyay deliberated on the aspect.
Prof Rout explained the theoretical concept of scenography as a lexicon of visual in theatre, referring to Chari in Natyashastra. He referred to several plays to describe the spatial arrangements in theatre and how Indian scenography emerged from rituals of oriental tradition. He cited the works of stalwarts like Brecht, Artaud, Tijan Bai and Richard Schechner to name a few.
Chattopadhyay started off with elaborating the imaginative aspect of theatre citing Tagore’s article Rangamancha. He explained the concepts of realism and its deviation in art. He asserted scenography as the biological synthesis of elements of theatre.
The session was moderated by Dr Sourav Gupta and technically supported by Monideepa Gupta, founders of Nandanik. As many as 54 people from different states of India participated.
