First on-stage performance post Covid hiatus spirit up thespians

Artistes enact a scene from Love Guru, a Punjabi adaptation of Anton Chekov’s Seduction, at Amritsar Art Gallery.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 8

After a hiatus of over seven months, theatre lovers were in for a treat, when ‘Love Guru’, a Punjabi adaptation of Anton Chekov’s ‘Seduction’, was staged at the Art Gallery here late on Saturday evening. With weekend theatre performances being a regular feature in the city, the last few months were equally tough for theatre lovers and artistes alike. Though many of them had been experimenting with online screening of plays, Love Guru’s performance was the first on-stage performance ever since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Audience watch the play after over seven months.

The adaptation and direction by Gurinder Makna of SSAI Creations and performance in collaboration with Theatre-Wallahs, a local theatre group of amateur artistes (non-professionals), is as interesting as the story of its rehearsals.

Makna said: “We delivered scripts at the homes of all artistes. They were asked to memorise their part. Then, we kept in touch with them over the phone to ensure better dialogue delivery.” He said the artistes later were asked to come one by one and perform. “It was only during the last week of rehearsals before the final performance, that all artistes were physically present in the theatre,” said Makna, adding that they also took permission from the district administration to hold a gathering of 30 persons.

“It was an overwhelming experiencing watching a play being performed on stage. The adaption and presentation part touched me the most. We had been keeping ourselves entertained on internet but watching a play being enacted in front of you is a different experience altogether,” said Suvidha Duggal, a theatre and film artiste.

“It has been a long time. I felt as if I was lying dormant. Theatre for me is not just entrainment, it is much more than that. Watching a play after more than seven months was satisfying. I hope things will improve further and we will have more such opportunities,” said Priyanka Gupta.

The team behind the scintillating performance included Dr Arvinder Chamak, Anmol Gupta, Rhea Bhatia and Samya Gupta. The stage and backstage support included Rupinder Korpal, Nausheen, Sirjan, Karanbir Singh, Paramjit Kaur, Akanksha Khanna and Reena Kundra.