Tamasha Theatre Company
04/01/2013
Category:
MRA Managing Director Anshu Srivastava was recently invited by Tamasha Theatre Company to sit in as a ‘Director Observer’ on a series of 10 actor workshops. This was a wonderful opportunity to watch Kristine Landon-Smith, Creative Director of Tamasha, bring her unique approach to texts as varied as Chekov, Greek Tragedy and Contemporary writing.
Of this experience Anshu says:
"After over twenty years of practice as an architect I feel ready for a further challenge and one that connects with my creativity and cultural identity in different ways. I feel that directing for the theatre would be a wonderful chance to bring my skills and passions together in a new context. Through attending the recent series of Tamasha Actor Masterclasses with Kristine Landon-Smith I have observed how the actors are encouraged to be confident not through some self regarding sense of their own ability, but through an open and trusting interplay, one with the other. Once the actor is fully open to working in this way, then the text, however archaic, powerful or strange becomes immediate and human.
Watching Kristine work one is both very aware of her experience and knowledge, but also of her constant flow of humour, creativity and sensitivity with the actors. Through this experience, I have understood that the Director must find the same open attitude with the actors as they are being asked to find with each other; a viewpoint that can certainly also be applied to running an architectural practice as much as working with a troop of actors. The inter-cultural ambitions of Tamasha are also fascinating. Where contemporary social exchange often requires people to disavow their cultural and ethnic identities, I can see that Kristine's practice asks for the reverse as she feels that an essential part of a person's truth is lost in this situation. In seeking out this truth, the actor can come to a more open and integrated place and be ready to engage.
The experience has given me great pleasure and I now look forward to creating some theatre work myself in the near future".
To find out more about the Tamasha Theatre Company please visit www.tamasha.org.uk