All About Deepak Morris

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