Man of many talents
He grew up in a flat in Mumbai, which was just one big room. The space was dedicated to theatre. “My father rehearsed all his plays there and my mother made all the costumes there,” veteran Indian theatre director Feisal Alkazi recalls of his earlier days in an email interview with The Himalayan Times.
Performances happened on the terrace. “On the terrace, a floor above, under the night sky and in sight of the sea, he (Feisal’s father) staged his plays. I acted in many,” he shares.
When they moved to Delhi, Alkazi was nine and his father headed the National School of Drama, a theatre institution. “I went to a school with a very vibrant drama department, so when we left school, we started our own group,” Alkazi adds.
The son of Ebrahim Alkazi, one of the most influential theatre directors and drama teachers in 20th Century Indian theatre, Feisal has been taking forward his father’s legacy with Ruchika Theatre Group for the past 45 years.
One of the leading theatre groups of Delhi, India, Ruchika ever since its inception in 1972, has regularly presented a season of at least three new productions every year. Some of the outstanding productions of Ruchika include The Father, The Women, Rashomon, Night Mother, Letter’s Home, Female Parts, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma, Odhni, Rishte Naate to name a few.
Among these works, Feisal’s first ticketed adult production was One Day in Aashad. He directed the play on the life of Kalidasa. “And many of my productions are Indian in content and inspiration.”
Even the focus of Ruchika has also “always been on plays of social relevance — whether they are performed in English, Hindi or Urdu” as Feisal believes “any art form is in some way a mirror to society”.
Feisal’s other strong professional involvement is social work — with the urban poor, the disabled child and the emotionally vulnerable adult.
He has been a counsellor for emotionally vulnerable at a counselling centre in Delhi for the last 35 years.
Likewise, for the last 47 years, he says he has worked with children almost every day on a regular basis. He is often called to work in many projects with children in India affected by trauma. He has worked with children in Assam and Kashmir among others, where parents have been killed by terrorists.
“It is really important for children to have happy set of memories in their childhood. If we look back at our childhood, it can’t always be of negativity. There has to be positive experience too. So, how do you create that sense of rebuilding of strength in a young person who has gone through the loss of his father and has been shut down by negativity? How do you work with that child? My work has explored that,” says Feisal, who does not “dwell on trauma”.
Instead he uses theatre as a medium to give positive experience to children.
“With the experience of theatre such children can explore the outside world as theatre is not only about plays, but it is also a means of communication,” he argues.
This involvement “has enriched my understanding of the world” he says, adding, “All theatre seeks to do is ask the audience the question — this has happened to me, has it happened to you too?”
Is there any difference between working with children and professional theatre artistes?
“I think the experience of theatre is very similar,” opines Feisal, whose way of making theatre is different than the traditional form. “I am not a person who demonstrates and does things. My whole training as a theatre person and my approach with theatre is the observation of actor. The actors look at the world around them, think about the characters and create the characters on their own. Many professional theatre artistes have really appreciated this.”
The son of Ebrahim, “a man popularly known as the father of the modern Indian theatre”, Feisal however does not have anyone as the ideal theatre artiste. “I do not have ideal theatre artiste. I find one very good actor — I feel in India Naseeruddin Shah, the late Om Puri, and abroad like Anthony Hopkins or even perhaps Brad Pitt, all are fantastic fabulous actors with a huge range of what they do in acting. But I think a theatre person is something much beyond the actor,” he states.
Nonetheless, he finds all arenas of theatre interesting though he personally finds directing “fabulous” among all.
He also worked as a costume designer for plays and few TV serials. He was very much involved in his work as a costume designer as “I enjoyed recreation of historical period”, recalls Feisal, whose mother was
also a costume designer. “I have worked with many directors on costume. I have done many costumes for Shakespeare, I have done many costumes for many periods in history. I have great fascination with fabric, texture, and colour, and how they appear on the stage,” he shares of his love for costume designing.
The man of many talents, he has penned books for children and adults alike like Naina’s Village, The Raindrop, Chilka Lake Adventure, Exploring an Environment: Discovering the Urban Reality, The Riverfront of My Town: Discovering Jaipur and Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy among others.
About donning the hat of an author, he says, “Most of my books have come out of my experience of working with young people.”
With Ruchika, Feisal is eagerly waiting to warm up the theatre scene of Nepal in the upcoming theatre festival ‘Stage Whispers: A Theatre Festival’. In the theatre fest being organised by the BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation and Embassy of India, the Ruchika Theatre Group will present a play along with conducting a workshop for children and adults.
Theatre lovers in Nepal can look forward to watch Feisal’s A Quiet Desire at the festival. In the play, young poet Rabindranath Tagore spends the summer with his elder brother Jyoti and charming wife Kadambari. And the play is a fresh look at their relationship through the prose, poetry and music of Tagore.
“Capturing Tagore’s beauty and melancholy through the aural and the visual was the real challenge. The play is not realistic, it blends poetry and composition, music and narration with drama,” he reveals about his work.
He is excited to stage his work here, though he is not familiar with the theatre scene here. “I know little about theatre in Nepal but am eagerly waiting to learn much more,” Feisal says of his first Nepal visit. And he will share his expertise via the Actors’ Workshop. “My workshop for actors will be exploratory and experiential, showing them ways and means of using their own lives and observations to create a character, a text, a performance,” an excited Feisal writes, adding, “I would be happy to return and run a more in-depth workshop.”
Festival details
May 27
What: Actors’ Workshop for Adults and Children (Age 8-15)
Time: 10:00 am
Where: Moksha Live, Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur
Prior registration necessary. Contact: 9851016222/
eoiktmnp@gmail.com
May 28
Play: A Quiet Desire (Class X and above)
Time: 10:30 am
Where: Army Officer’s Club, Bhadrakali, Kathmandu
Entry is free
