All About Deepak Morris

It's always such a thrill when an actor discovers sub-text.

I've experienced tons of actors who are so focused on showing off [look Mama, I'm on stage!] that exhortations to discover sub-text are lost.

But once in a while comes an actor who listens... who tries it out... and then, there's magic on stage.

Leon found it. Ruchi did. The Khanna sisters were born with it! Sandeep found it. Ananda is another who was born with it. Niloufer found it. Namrata found it. Dalip found it. Naina's a natural at it. So is Gayatri.

In the dark hours, when I think, "Why do I even try?"

Knowing that you guys got it, makes it worthwhile.

Thank you.

People hate it when I point out flaws in productions. They say that I should encourage fledgling - or even experienced - directors, rather than critique their efforts.

Allow me to digress a bit. The advertising legend, David Ogilvy, reportedly sent a doll and a memo to every new employee who was likely to have a hand in recruiting someone new. The doll was one of those Russian dolls that have a doll inside them, which has another doll inside it, and so on. The memo reportedly read, "If we recruit someone smaller than us, we'll become a company of dwarfs. If we recruit someone bigger than us, we'll become a company of giants."

That's what I'm aiming for in English language theatre in Pune. Unless we critique honestly, how can we learn and grow? I have no problem being critiqued. I've learned a lot from the critiques. My productions have improved as a result. True, there are certain things I disagree with, like people telling me that the director should interpret the character's role, but even naiive critiques like the one for "Who Let The Dogs Out", where the critic just didn't get the reference to Snoop Doggy Dog's popular song, tell the playwright / director that there may be some sections of the audience that don't get it. It's then up to the playwright or the director to do what is best. But unless someone speaks up, how will we know?

I'm all for encouragement but encouraging someone to go off in the wrong direction will do her more harm than good, in my opinion. Hence, I state my honest opinion in my critiques and welcome similarly honest opinions.

We have to decide if we want soothed egos or the development of English language theatre in Pune. I vote for development.

Deepak

Free websites, free blogs, free entertainment, even! The net is a "free-empowering" phenomenon.

You can even download movies for free.

If someone requests a script and I send it to him, there's nothing to prevent him from sending it on to all his friends. I'd go crazy trying to find out who's performed which play and where.

Is this the end of theatre?

I think it's the beginning of a new era in theatre.

The more we get online, the more we feel a need to connect for real. No entertainment can be more real than a theatrical performance. Live actors, on stage, right in front of us. No two performances ever alike! You can even meet the actors, for real, after the performance!

I think the net empowers live theatre even more than patrons did in Shakespearean times.

Deepak

When I say "eliminate the director," I mean it on the lines of "If You See the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him!"

This means, once the seeker has reached a particular point of development, a teacher is more likely to lead him astray than to guide him. After that point, the seeker must create his own road and, if he sees a teacher on that road, must eliminate him.

What I also mean by "Director" is the "Auteur Director." This is the kind of director most people are used to, someone who carves every bit of the play, telling actors what they must do, how they must do it and how they must say their lines. This is how film directors (at least, 99% of them) still direct movies.

On stage, however, that is stifling for the actor. Granted, in school productions, actors are too young to be able to interpret roles on their own. The Teacher Director must tell them exactly how each line is to be said, the actions they must perform while saying the lines, how they must move from point A to point B, etc.

If this form of direction continues later in life, however, the actor isn't allowed to grow. True development of the personality occurs when the actor learns to look at the role in the context of the scene and the scene in the context of the play and thus, the character in the context of the whole cast. It occurs when the actor gains the confidence to be able to "play with" the character, trying out different interpretations, inserting intellectual input into a creative endeavour.

There is, of course, a kind of director who cannot be eliminated, try as we might. This is the director who forms the "eye of the audience" during rehearsals. This director has a vision of the play and ensures that the actors portray that vision. If an actor misinterprets a role, this director must step in and guide him. However, he cannot do this UNTIL the actor interprets the role, however wrongly.

"Eliminating the Director" is like the quest for perfection; it can never be attained. Similarly, the director cannot actually be eliminated. However, I think it is necessary to work towards that elimination.

Deepak