Raj Bisaria

Raj Bisaria

Raj Bisaria
Born November 10, 1935
Lakimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, India
Other names Raju
Occupation Theatre Director, Actor, Producer and Educationist
Notable work Founder of the Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) and Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts
Spouse(s) Mrs. Kiran Raj Bisaria[1]
Website
www.taw.org.in

Raj Bisaria (born November 10, 1935) is an Indian director, producer, actor and teacher, described by the Press Trust of India as "the father of the modern theatre in India".[2] He has blended artistic concepts and impulse of the East and the West, the traditional and the modern and has been devoted to the cause of Theatre and Acting.

Biography

Life

Raj Bisaria was born in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, on Nov 10, 1935, the son of Late Mr. P.L. Bisaria and Mrs. Leelavati Singh. He was educated at Colvin Taluqdars' College and Lucknow University, Lucknow and, retired as a senior professor of English Literature from Lucknow University. In 1969, Bisaria married the Kiran Kuchawan; the couple have a daughter, named Rajina.[1]

The initiative was taken by his University Theatre Group formed in 1962.[3] Four years later,Raj Bisaria founded the Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) in 1966[4] and Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts, Government of Uttar Pradesh, in 1975, and the Repertory Company of BNA in 1981.[5][6] He is the first man from UP to have been awarded a Padma Shree for work in modern theatre and his contribution towards stunning growth of theatre in India.[7]

Raj Bisaria tried to infuse a new sense of consciousness with regard to the dramatic and performing arts and aesthetic awareness of the performing arts in northern India.[8][9]

After high came the lows. Bisaria was inexplicably removed as the honorary director of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he was assaulted twice, first in 1988 and then in 1995.[10]

Theatre Training

Theatre training for Raj Bisaria over the years, besides efforts on his own, included an invitation by the British Council, London, to visit U.K. and train at the British Drama League (now the British Theatre Association) as a producer, drama - instructor, and adjudicator, in 1969.[11]

Director and Designer

A pioneer of the modern theatre movement in North India, Raj Bisaria is a highly revered stage director, he has a through grounding in western classics and contemporary dramatic works.[12] His productions are remarkable for brilliant artistry and contemporary relevance.

Raj Bisaria tried that the dramatic and performing arts conform to a professional discipline and communicate through a new aesthetic medium. His plays are concerned with man-women relationship and social issues of special concern to him.[4][13] Through the productions of European and Indian plays since 1966 Mr. Bisaria presented a wide spectrum of contemporary world drama as director and designer, setting his own parallel, pursues the theatre of excellence.[9]

He has ventured to blend artistic concepts and impulse of the East and the West, the traditional and the modern, and has been passionately devoted to the cause of Theatre and acting. It is his firm belief that this art form can be used for its therapeutic qualities for the overall healthy development of personality of the young, apart from being a vehicle for disseminating information, and creating consciousness about social- political issues, as indeed affording aesthetic and ennobling enlightenment and enriching the cultural consciousness of modern India.

Largely using his own devices and creative expression he began his work in the English and began to use Hindustani as the spoken medium of expression from the 1973. He has encouraged folk theatre form of UP - the Nautanki.[14]

As stage and light designer his use of colours and perception of its psychology, which helped him in creating a new spectrum of innovative theatrical images and which moved from realistic to the symbolic and at times poetic. Obviously the effort was to promote a serious bi-lingual theatre, more purposive and contextually relevant to India's social conditions. But in 1972, he took a major shift in his emphasis from modern Euro-American productions to plays in Hindi of modern Indian playwrights: Mohan Rakesh, Badal Sircar, Adya Rangacharya, Dharamvir Bharti, Shesh and Mohit Chatterjee.[7]

Over the years, Raj Bisaria produced & directed over 75 major theatre production. In addition he supervised, produced/directed a large number of productions in the Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts during 1975 to 1986 and later on; and also in National School of Drama and for its Repertory Company.

His major and memorable productions have included Maxwell Anderson's Barefoot in Athens; Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear; George Bernard Shaw's Candida; Harold Pinter's The Caretaker; Sartre's In Camera; Ionesco's The Lesson; Strindberg's Father, Jean Anouilh's Antigone; and various plays of Chekhov, Ionesco, Tennessee Williams, Shaffer and so on. His major productions of Indian plays have included Dharamvir Bharati's Andha Yug, Badal Sircar's Baqi Itihas, Adya Rangacharya's Suno Janmejaya, Elkunchwar's Garbo, Mohan Rakesh's Aadhe-Adhure, Mohit Chatterjee's Guinea Pig etc.[15][16][17]

Heavy Odds

Raj Bisaria has to face heavy odds. He had no illusions whatsoever about succeeding where others had failed. He never hoped to make money. He has carried on in spite of everything is a measure of his determination to do well.

But carping critics say “TAW could have done better.” Not one of them is willing to lend a helping hand to TAW. Each of them is keen on finding fault with its selection of plays and its attitude towards his audience. Critics found Ann Jellicoe’s The Knack revolting and Sartre’s In Camera and Ionesco’s The Lesson a size too big for their intellect. They advised Raj Bisaria to come down a little. It simply did not occur to them that what they fail to understand was all there on the stage, in the lighting, the atmosphere, the dramatic situation.[18]

The TAW team itself is ever changing. A hard core of devoted men and women is there, but interested workers and capable players have to be found from play to play and make do with players who might be temperamental, who might have different notions of the proper and the improper, the decent and the indecent, who might come forward for the simple reason that suddenly the limelight has gripped their fancy.[19]

Lack of men and material compelled Raj Bisaria to stage Othello with only four characters. And yet it was a memorable performance. The persistence efforts of Raj Bisaria have yielded results.[20]

Actor

As an actor of stage, radio, television and films, Mr. Bisaria is known as an artiste of rare sensitivity, talent and discipline. Since 1978, he is rated as a top grade actor of the Doordarshan.[9] As theatre actor Raj Bisaria did meaningful roles in several of TAW English and Hindi stage productions, films and television.[21]

He played leading roles in at least two dozen plays in English and Hindi, such as:

Impresario

As impresario Raj Bisaria's widening interests had led to the introduction of Irshad Panjatan's mime in 1967 and next year the presentation of the Murray Louis Dance Company of USA. This broadening activity and involvement with the performing arts also saw a classical dance performance by Sonal Mansingh, in 1970, the debut of Om Shivpuri's Dishanter group in 1972, a painting exhibition of R.S. Bisht's miniature in 1973, Richard Schechners’ environmental theatre presentation of Mother Courage and Her Children from New York in 1976, and the Annapolis Brass Quintet in 1981 - all arranged at the initiative of Raj Bisaria's TAW.[22]

Educationist

As a dramaturge his primary concern was an effort to resolve the problem of creative reinterpretation of the classical and theatrical art of his region to find itself in contemporary social relevance.

He structured Theatre Training Programmes in U.P. through workshops and full-fledged certificate and diploma courses in North India since 1966 and founded in 1975 for the Government of U.P. India's Second School of Drama:Bhartendu Natya Akademi-Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts.[2]

Raj Bisaria is vitally interested as actor, director and theatre teacher in the system of Constantine Stanislavsky and Brecht. Stanislavsky, the great Russian director, actor and teacher provides the core of Raj Bisaria's work as the director and educationist of contemporary Indian Theatre. Later, he nurtured over the years and introduced his own system of holistic acting, which produced three generations of actors and directors.[8]

Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW)

In December 1963, ten members organized a theatre play and bravely put through a programme – An Evening with Young Actors – which included Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Aria da Capo, scenes from Twelfth Night and Macbeth, The Valiant and a dramatized reading of Hamlet, Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, all tremendously successful, with sensitive audience. Raj Bisaria produced and directed all the plays, convinced of his ability to handle it, he decided to register a theatre group with a managing body and using local talent. A bilingual group theatre (English and Hindi), the central concern the development of a genuine interest in theatre-craft and creating within its scope, a theatre-consciousness, an ability to appreciate the drama of ideas and technique.[23]

The idea was immensely attractive, but could one man realize it, considering the most glaring problems – capital. By the winter of 1965, his plans had been finalized. No financial help was forthcoming yet, and even his ostensible backers felt little of the relentless and impatient that Raj Bisaria felt with the clamps on the project. Finally, he staked a large part of his personal fortune on it, selected members for the committee, picked out a likely group of four English actors and of helpers, and established what has since then been called Theatre Arts Workshop – a theatre for enthusiasts in drama and allied arts.[24]

Thus in 1966, Theatre Arts Workshop (TAW) was founded by Raj Bisaria, as a president and artistic director, with the aim of creating interest in dramatic arts among the young, and help them to develop an insight into acting, direction and allied arts. The name ‘Theatre Arts Workshop’ is unit for theatre and allied performing arts; its members are to be exposed to workshop methods of representation. TAW is was to be a training organization and then a performing group, with its motto ‘training before performance’. Its philosophy is "your right is to work only, but never the fruit thereof. Let not the fruit of action be your object, nor let your attachment be to inaction." – Sri Krishna to sorrowing Arjuna (The Bhagvadgita, chapter II - 47)[25][26]

English Theatre

Raj Bisaria started his venture in English language with Shakespeare’s Othello in 1966, Christopher Fry's poetic play A Phoenix too Frequent and Eugène Ionesco’s absurd play The Lesson in 1967. The selection of these two plays; diametrically opposite in their form and content, in a single show was a daring attempt by Raj Bisaria. Despite the box office failure, it was an achievement for TAW as they refused to compromise.[27]

But by 1967 a significant advance was made when Raj Bisaria decided to produce and direct Jean-Paul Sartre's existential In Camera, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Aria Da Capo and Ronald Duncan’s translation of 12th century classic Abelard and Heloise in a three-bill presentation, in November, 1967. These were crucial productions as TAW’s audience wavered between shocked admiration and shocked disgust. Although the plays were engrossing but four hours of continuous drama was a bit too much.[28]

Hindi and Urdu Theatre

Raj Bisaria was duly aware from the very beginning that any worthwhile theatre activity had to find its moorings in Hindi and other Indian languages. He sought the co-operation of the then existing theatre groups to realize his dreams to establish a bilingual theatre in Lucknow. But his effort failed to elicit any response from them. He even brought the production rights of Mohan Rakesh’s well known play, Adhe-Adhure, which he could not stage for want of a suitable cast. In his desperate bid to switch over to Hindi drama, he invited Delhi groups to produce, under TAW’s auspices, plays in Hindi with a view to making local groups conscious of the potentialities and challenges of Hindi Theatre.[29]

TAW’s first Hindi play was Baqi Itihas, a translation of Badal Sircar’s well-known Bengali play on a thrust stage. It was a non-realistic presentation, using giant slides and specially designed music, the first production of the kind in the country.

Baqi Itihas was followed by a wide range of plays in translation from English, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, in addition to those originally in Hindi; Andha Yug, Suno Janmejaya, Adhe-Adhure,[30] The Cave Dwellers, Antigone, Garbo, Candida, Father, Sleuth, Barefoot in Athens,[31] The Caretaker etc.[32]

TAW is considered the protagonist of theatre art, from the classical to the experimental plays has been exhibiting in this bold and brave enterprise.[33] TAW spotlighted the emergence of a remarkable sophistication in the dramatic arts which gained a new impetus and created an unusual impact on the audience despite all its limitations of response.[34]

TAW mounted on stage the European and American playwrights; its repertoire including Shakespeare, Shaw, Sartre, Ionesco, Fry, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Noël Coward, Ronald Duncan, Rattigan, Harold Pinter, Ann Jellicoe, Peter Shaffer, Edward Albee, Jean Anouilh, Maxwell Anderson[35] and Orton.[10]

According to The Pioneer, The dynamism of TAW productions, their stylistic experimentation and directorial subtlety, were never in doubt on either side of the proscenium. But TAW's plays proved too radical in the context of existing provincial attitudes.[8][36]

Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts

As a theatre educator as early as 1973, Raj Bisaria suggested to the State Government that he should start a semi-professional repertory theatre in Uttar Pradesh, in 1974 the State Government went a few steps further and requested him to evolve a scheme for establishing a drama school, which would function as a full-fledged academy of dramatic arts.[37][38]

Bhartendu Natya Akademi (BNA): Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (BADA), when it was founded in 1975 (with Raj Bisaria as its founder director) became the first of its kind in the large Hindi belt of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The only other being the Delhi based National School of Drama.[39] From 1975 to 1986, in an honorary capacity shouldered the total responsibility of teaching acting and direction (aspects both theoretical and practical) western drama, from Greeks to modern times; theatre criticism and adjudication and aesthetics of light, and set design. He worked again as, director of the akademi as well as the director of its Repertory Company from 1989 to 1992, 1995 to 1997.[10]

As theatre administrator with minimal facilities, poor funds and negligible infrastructure, he has developed and consolidated the viability and status of a school of theatre beginning initially as an elementary agency for dissemination of theatrical know-how in 1976 to a professional academy of dramatic arts in 1981.[8]

List of notable students trained by Raj Bisaria

Major productions as Director

Honours

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Henry Soszynski. "Kuchaman". Members.iinet.net.au. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Thakore, Dolly (3 June 1984). "Raj Bisaria: Founder of the Hindi Theatre Movement". Mid-Day, Mumbai.
  3. ↑ Kala, Mr. S.C. (5 January 1964). "An Evening With Young Actors". The Illustrated Weekly of India: 51.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Theatre Arts Workshop, Lucknow". The National Herald. April 6, 1969.
  5. ↑ http://bna.noetic.in/english/founder_director.htm
  6. ↑ My affair with theatre continues
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Saxena, Rajeev (15 April 1990). "Raj Bisaria's 'Fine Madness'". The Sunday Observer.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Sagar, Anand (26 March 1978). "Raj Bisaria Learns To Give More Then He Gets". The Pioneer.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "Teacher - turned dramatist Bisaria gets Padamshri". The Pioneer, Lucknow. 30 January 1990.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Pandey, Manish Chandra (20 February 2005). "Not curtains yet for creative theatre genius". Hindustan Times, Lucknow.
  11. ↑ Sagar, Anand (March 26, 1978). "Raj Bisaria Learns To Give More Then He Gets". The Pioneer, Lucknow.
  12. ↑ Bajeli, Diwan Singh (6 February 2014). "Finer Side of Life". Chennai, India: The Hindu, New Delhi. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  13. ↑ Narain, Prof. S.K. (9 May 1971). "TAW: Bisaria's Fresh Effort". Sunday Magazine, National Herald.
  14. ↑ "Director Without A Theatre". The Pioneer, Lucknow. Feb 23, 1970.
  15. ↑ "My Best Is Yet To Come". The Hindu, Madras. 12 August 1983.
  16. ↑ "Raj Bisaria leaves audience spell-bound". The Northern Patrika,Allahabad. 11 January 1997.
  17. ↑ Agrawal, Pratibha (2005). Bhartiya Rangkosh. New Delhi: Rastriya Natya Vidyalaya. p. 397. ISBN 81-8197-010-1.
  18. ↑ Kala, S.C. (July 11, 1971). "The Theatre in Lucknow". The Times of India, New Delhi.
  19. ↑ "The Theatre in Lucknow". The Times Of India, New Delhi. July 11, 1971.
  20. ↑ Panje, Usha (March 8, 1970). "Theatre Arts Workshop: Cross Roads". The National Herald, Lucknow.
  21. ↑ Saxena, Rajeev (15 April 1990). "Raj Bisaria's 'Fine Madness'". The Sunday Observer, Lucknow.
  22. ↑ Shephered, Keith (12 September 1971). "A tete-a-tete with Bisaria". The National Herald,Lucknow.
  23. ↑ Kala, S.C. (January 5, 1964). "An Evening With Young Actors". The Illustrated Weekly Of India.
  24. ↑ "Theatre Arts Workshop, Lucknow". The National Herald, Lucknow. April 6, 1969.
  25. ↑ "Lucknow Theatre Winning Against Heavy Odds". The Times of India, New Delhi. May 8, 1968.
  26. ↑ "World Is A Stage". The Pioneer. February 1, 1970.
  27. ↑ Narain, Prof. S.K. (May 9, 1971). "TAW : Bisaria's Fresh Effort". National Herald, Sunday Magzine.
  28. ↑ "Memorable Stage Performance". The National Herald. May 6, 1967.
  29. ↑ Nairan, Prof. S.K. (September 23, 1984). "TAW-The Protagonist Of Theatre Art". The Pioneer, Sunday Magazine, Lucknow.
  30. ↑ "Adhe-Adhure Technically Superb Play". The Hindu, Madras. August 1983.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Daftur, Swati (Feb 6, 2015). "Universal Truths". The Hindu,. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  32. ↑ Thakore, Dolly (June 3, 1984). "Raj Bisaria: founder of the Hindi Theatre Movement". Mid-Day, Mumbai.
  33. ↑ Narain, S.K. (23 September 1984). "TAW-The Protagonist Of Theatre Art". The Pioneer.
  34. ↑ Jaffar, Mehru (13 June 1976). "After 10 Summers In Lucknow". The Statesman,New Delhi.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "Philosophy Revisited!". Hindustan Times. 12 April 13. Check date values in: |date= (help);
  36. ↑ Panje, Usha (March 8, 1970). "Theatre Arts Workshop: Cross Roads". The National Herald.
  37. ↑ Srivastava, Krishnaji (February 1977). "Bhartendu Natya Kendra". Swatantra Bharat,Lucknow.
  38. ↑ "Little Acts Of Life". Indian Express, Madras. 30 July 1983.
  39. ↑ "Bhartendu Natya Kendra Gains In Popularity". The Pioneer. 13 February 1977.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Nagar, Mr. Sharad (6 June 1967). "Lession in Lucknow Box". Enact.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 "A Rare Treat For Theatre-Goers". National Herald. May 6, 1967.
  42. ↑ "Amateurs Steals the Show". Enlite. 10 June 1967.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 "Three Course Menu". Enlite. Jan 6, 1968.
  44. ↑ "'The Knack' at Ravindralaya". The Pioneer. March 31, 1968.
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 "TAW's Hat Trick - Realism, Evasion and Absurd". The Pioneer. October 14, 1968.
  46. ↑ "Better and Better". The Pioneer. October 21, 1968.
  47. ↑ Shepherd, Keith (5 September 1971). "Lone Steps Across The Boards". The National Herald.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 Acharya, Lena (15 February). "A Decade Of TAW". The National Herald. Check date values in: |date= (help);
  49. ↑ "'Suno Janamejaya ' - A Critical Review". The Pioneer,Lucknow. 13 May 1977. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help);
  50. ↑ "Andha Yug : Naye Rang-Bodh Ki Talash". Dharmayug. 9–15 March 1980. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  51. ↑ "'Adhe Adhure' - Technically Superb Play". The Hindu, Madras. 14 August 1983.
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 "Probe Into Life". The Hindu, Madras. 17 August 1983.
  53. ↑ "'Suniti' : A Slick Production". The Times Of India, Lucknow. 29 August 1984.
  54. ↑ Nagpal, Kavita (2 December 1989). "A Step in the Right Direction". The Hindustan Times, Lucknow.
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 "Mixed response to TAW plays". The Times Of India, Lucknow. November 1984.
  56. ↑ Pandey, Nishi (23 January 2000). "Raj's back with a 'Raaz". Hindustan Times, Lucknow.
  57. ↑ Manjul, Tarannum (12 November 2000). "A Man's Search For Identity". Hindustan Times, Lucknow.
  58. ↑ Agrawal, Surya (9 April 2008). "Bisaria back with Macbeth". Hindustan Times, lucknow.
  59. ↑ "A theatrical change! - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  60. ↑ Krishna, Sharmila (19 May 2010). "Keeping Shakespeare alive on stage". The Pioneer, Lucknow.
  61. ↑ "king Lear enthrals audience". The Times of India, Lucknow. 19 May 2010.
  62. ↑ "Times of India Publications". Lite.epaper.timesofindia.com. 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 "TAW Plays It And How". Hindustan Times, Lucknow. 15 February 2011.
  64. ↑ Pahwa, Meenakshi (19 February 2012). "TREAT FOR THEATRE LOVERS". Hindustan Times, Luckonw.
  65. ↑ "Sadda Haq". Hindustan Times. March 20, 2012.
  66. ↑ Carry on TAW!
  67. ↑ "The Times of India: Latest News India, World & Business News, Cricket & Sports, Bollywood". The Times Of India.
  68. ↑ Bajeli, Diwan Singh. "Finer Side of Life". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 Feb 2014.
  69. ↑ Bajeli, Diwan Singh (June 27, 2013). "Showing Life, As it Is". The Hindu, New Delhi (Chennai, India). Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  70. ↑ Singh, Madhulika. "In Pursuit Of Happiness". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  71. ↑ "Tragedy Of Alienation". Hindustan Times. 20 August 2014.
  72. ↑ Chandra, Vidita (21 August 2014). "When Play Time Gets Serious". Times of India.
  73. ↑ 73.0 73.1 Verma, Raj Saran (4 February 2005). "'All the World is a Stage'". Dainik Jagran, lucknow.
  74. ↑ Padma Shri Awards (1990–1999)
  75. ↑ http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna_hindi/events2005-06/2005-06awards-ceremony2004.htm
  76. ↑ "Welcome to Sangit Kala Kendra". Sangitkalakendra.org. Retrieved 2015-02-18.
  77. ↑ Malik, Rohit. "18th Chaman Lal Memorial Memorial Awards 2012 at Siri Fort Auditorium, August Kranti Marg > 7pm on 14th April 2012". Delhi Events. Retrieved 2015-02-18.

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