Staging on a screen near you

It was 4 pm in London on a spring afternoon,when the city’s elite gathered at National Theatre to attend Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Frankenstein,the spine-chilling,archetypical novella by Mary Shelley. Starring theatre actor Johnny Lee Miller as the demented idealist,Victor Frankenstein,the doctor who brings alive a monster made of grave-robbed parts,played by Benedict Cumberbatch,the production got a standing ovation. The play received a similar applause in 19 other countries,including Mumbai’s National Centre for Performing Arts,where it was screened in June.

This was the first time in the history of Indian theatre that a foreign play was screened live at NCPA with the help of various cameras,satellite transmission and high-definition screening. “It was a sell-out run,seen by nearly one lakh people world over. India’s response was brilliant. We filmed it cinematically,recreating a live experience for the audience. NCPA has now invested in the necessary equipment required to screen live,” says David Sebel,director of National Theatre,London,who launched the concept of National Theatre Live in 2009,with Jean Racine’s dramatic tragedy,Phedre,that starred Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren.

Later this year,NCPA will help National Theatre organise similar screenings at Delhi’s Kamani auditorium,Kolkata and Bangalore. “The key to having a successful screening is the technology involved in the projection and sound,” says Khushroo Santook,director of NCPA,about the Bowers and Wilkins equipment which is imported,but is supplied locally.

Story continues below this ad

“We were attracted to the concept because it recreated the live,shared experience. Audience in India watched with the theatre audience in London and reacted like one,” says Santook. But even though the audience seems to like what they see now,according to Sebel,there is work being done,“to make the visual presentation more dynamic than mere cameras pointed at the stage”.

Next from National Theatre is a tweaked version of Carlo Goldoni’s classic comedy The Servant of Two Masters,which will be staged as One Man,Two Guvnars. Another screening will be held for the legendary British dramatist Arnold Wesker’s The Kitchen.