Mandala Mobile Theatre and the tour that was

KATHMANDU, Nov 11: “From littered broken-down halls to seminar rooms in hotels, our first Ghumti (mobile) Theatre performed in all kind of space, and we feel really proud of it,” says Rajan Khatiwada, founding member of Mandala Theatre Group.

Khatiwada and his team of 14 actors recently returned from their 12-day nationwide tour with their mobile theatre enacting two artistic plays – Charandas Chor and Miss Julie.[break]

The tour that started on October 24 from Damak on a minibus concluded on November 4 in Pokhara, making 10 stops at different places in the country.

“We couldn’t make this tour as grand as we had planned but we couldn’t wait any longer,” says Khatiwada, “So we took up the challenge and set out to take the first step towards our dream project to see what we could do with the resources we had.”

What they had were a few speakers, lighting equipments, necessary props and enough of black fabric to turn any space they could get into a black box theatre.

The group was constantly on the move.

“We’d be in a new location everyday, we assessed the space within hours, started setting up the equipments from 5 in the morning, then performed around 2 or 4 pm, then pack up and move again to spend the night in another location, or during long travels, in the bus itself,” shares Khatiwada.

For a team of theatre workers who had been performing only in the capital, theatre felt like an easy job. But this trip, he says, woke them up from the illusion. With some financial support from their sponsors, they got the push to start up and felt sure enough that they at least could pay and provide for the actors. But there were a lot of compromises to face and lots of risks involved as well.

“I’m glad the group was understanding, and even though we traveled with very little rest, the enthusiasm on and offstage I saw in all these young people was inspirational,” Khatiwada says.

With some words of mouth publicity and help from the local organizations of the ten locations, Khatiwada says the turnout was satisfactory. The tickets were sold at the rate of Rs 50 and 100 and the audiences came from mixed walks of life – artists, literary laureates, and students to general public.

“For most of the audience outside the capital, they haven’t really been exposed to plays besides street plays,” says Khatiwada and adds, “Even though we couldn’t offer much in terms of technical quality, we’re glad that there was at least an initiation to showing artistic plays.”

The tour, according to Khatiwada, proved to be “a search of possibilities for the younger generation who are passionate about theatre.”

During the trip, they also looked for locally written plays and playwrights and studied how feasible it was to commercialize Nepali theatre.

With positive responses from most places they performed at, Khatiwada is confident that they no longer have to be in the waiting list of the theatre halls in Kathmandu but explore beyond the capital.

“We see the possibility where we can help initiate a local theatre team in these places,” says Khatiwada and adds, “The idea now is to work on the possibilities we found during the tour – decentralize and work hard to make our Mandala Mobile Theatre tour an annual event.”