Wetransfer Theatre’s Newly Devised Recreation, Utilizing Parts Of Theatre, Is Paying Them Dividends Throughout The Pandemic
The first two months of the lockdown have been troublesome for the Bengaluru-based WeTransfer Theatre group. With theatres shut and reveals abruptly cancelled, they have been unsure of find out how to handle funds.
Theatre teams throughout the nation shared an identical plight — many impartial rural artistes even needed to take up one other occupation. But because the pandemic continued, teams started utilizing the net medium to restart work. They resorted to play readings on YouTube, performances over Facebook reside and different issues.
WeTransfer, in the meantime, has devised a recreation utilizing parts of theatre.
“It’s a game for a group of four to 25 people. We give them a scenario, usually involving a murder. The objective is to find the murderer. We split participants into groups and one by one, they interact with the suspects, an investigating officer, and other officials, all played by our actors,” explains Abhishek Iyengar, WeTransfer’s co-founder. The recreation, comprising a number of rounds, lasts 80-90 minutes.
“It’s been a great success for us,” says Abhishek. So far, the group has hosted 10 public periods and 30 company periods. “They have taken care of our financial needs.” The ticket for a public session is often priced at ₹200 to ₹250.
Abhishek says his teammates, Sindhu Hegde and Aditya Naik, got here up with the thought in June. “During the lockdown, a friend wanted us to perform for a get-together. We knew staging a normal play wouldn’t work. It had to be interactive. That’s when Sindu and Aditya came up with this idea of involving the audience in the plot. It was a big hit. And, we thought we could refine it as a better product.”
Abhishek’s teammate, Pavan Sharma, already had a bunch of homicide thriller play scripts. “We tweaked them for the game. We have 15 different plots,” says Abhishek.
This model sees the actors improvise much more than they do in a play. For, the contributors’ questions can’t be scripted. “The basic things in the plot don’t change. But, yeah, it’s a lot more dynamic than a play. And, there’s a lot of fun and laughter. So, no one is complaining,” says Abhishek. “The public sessions are more interesting because you play with strangers. I know two people who became friends through our session and went on a bicycle tour the next day.”
Abhishek desires to experiment with this format in theatres. “Maybe we can have a green room at the theatre,” he says. “The game can be played online and offline. That would be interesting.”
