Kathmandu:

Most of us have acted in school plays and many times we learnt that even after months and months of rehearsals, someone or the other always makes a mistake, forgets lines, gets nervous or gets stage fright that someone else takes his/her place. This is not only common in school plays, even professional theatre actors face similar situations in their stage life.

They say that every stage performance is unique and different. This is because once you are on the stage, it is your final cut. There can be no retakes. And this is when improvisation, thinking on your feet, keeping a cool head and acting like as if there is no tomorrow comes into play. We talked to some of the actors of the Capital’s Arohan Theatre Group and asked them to share their moments of stage mishap with us.

Bhola could not continue his role in Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko due to the sudden demise of his mother, and I had to do his role for the day. And I had just half-an-hour to prepare. In one of the scenes, two of us were to be frozen in act holding a book. While I thought, my co-actor was holding it, he thought I was, and we both let go of the book at the same time. The book dropped but we were frozen on stage and still holding the book though in reality it was lying flat on the floor.

Om Prakash Karna

Though I knew I would be doing the role being acted out by Nishaji in Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko, I didn’t know that I would be asked to appear on stage so soon. But luckily for me, in most of the scenes I had to cover up my face with a book and that gave me a chance to cheat — I had the dialogue written on the pages inside the book. My co-actor Sunilji covered up for me in many places. Another memorable incident was during the performance of Agniko Katha in Agartala, India. I was preparing to make an entry with a lit hanging incense bowl. But due to the heat, the aluminium chain had got dislocated and the bowl tilted over spraying the floor with all the burning coal. By the time we got the burning pieces into the inscense bowl and attached the chain, the scene had been delayed by two minutes.

Sarita Giri

I have been like the 12th man in a football match in three of the Aarohan productions — Bagh Bhairab, Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko and Mayadeviko Sapana. During the time Bagh Bhairab, was being staged, I was at the hospital looking after one of my colleagues, Raj Kumar. And I was informed (on very short notice) that I was to do the role of an old man for two of the shows scheduled for the day. The role also demanded that I dance to Newar music, and that was something that stumped me though I managed to remember the dialogues. With a wildly beating heart, I entered the stage and whenever I was in doubt the other actors plays helped me out. Nowadays, Aarohan has started the trend of double casting of the characters so that two artists are prepared to do one role in case something similar happens. In Agniko Katha, I was playing the role of a monk, I made entered the stage with my stage attire incomplete — I had forgotten to wear the monk’s special cap.

Yubaraj Ghimire

The artificial moustache in Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko was not attached properly and it distracted me a lot. And sometimes even the audience’s response distracts the actors. In a comedy, it is easier to cover up even if a mess happens. We add dialogues on our own to cover up the situation.

Rajan Khatiwada

One of my most memorable stage incidents happened during Agniko Katha. After finishing my scene, there was a scene change and when all the lights went off, I was supposed to place a trishul at a particular place that had been prepared especially for it. But the trishul would not get stuck and I ended up holding the trihsul the entire scene. In the same play, a few days before the show, I got a boil on my leg that made it difficult for me to walk and so I limped my way through the rehearsals. My role was that of an ordinary monk, but because of this boil of mine, my role changed into that of a disabled monk, and I ended up playing a monk who walks with a limp.

Bholaraj Sapkota

I had two roles in Jaat Sodhnu Jogiko — that of a registrar and an English professor. Since one of my co-actors Puskar Gurung could not make it that day, I had to do his role too on that day — ward chairman. In seven hours’ time, I managed to learn his dialogues by heart but did not have the natural fluency and was not confident about the movements. I was so conscious that I might spoil the other actor’s role that it was one of the most stressful performances that I’ve given.

Bassanta Bhatta