Experiences 8: My incredible India - Julia Hesse, Dramaturgy and PR at Schnawwl talks about her first trip to Bangalore

My Incredible India


“You say you’ve seen seven wonders and your bird is green – but you can’t see me.”

Before going to India for the first time someone told me: „India is absolute. Either you will hate it or you will love it. There’s nothing in between.” She was right.
Before getting into anything in detail I tell you straight ahead: I love it. I loved from the very first moment I arrived at the airport in Bangalore. Although it was almost 2 a.m. the air was soft and warm and had a special perfume, I can’t describe, but it smelled different from home, excitingly different.

During our instrument-shopping-tour I didn’t know where to look first. The coloured buildings, the beautiful ladies with their magnificent saris of different styles, the shops with all these statues of Hindu gods and goddesses, the old woman that sold flowers to put in your hair (Kirtana once offered me such flowers for my hair. Jasmine and tiny orange flowers that smelled so unbelievably sweet and divine, that you wish to have them as your everyday perfume). The music shops were great and very different from our way of storaging instruments as drums, sitars, weeners etc. looked kind of stuffed in every free space and it was not what you would call clean or tidied up in a German way, but it was rather like a big tresurehold, where you could get lost. We bought a kanjera (but with goat, not lizard skin) and a cachon so that Coordt would have some instruments to play on during his session with the musicians we were meeting to find a cast for “Boy with the suitcase”.
For lunch we met Arundhati, the founder and artistic head of Ranga Shankara, at her theatre. She welcomed us very warmly although she was in big stress as the next day the big folk festival for traditional Indian theatre was going to be opened at Ranga Shankara and she had to leave for one day to Delhi to receive her latest price for best supporting actress, some kind of Indian Oscar…
Thanks to the excellently programmed festival at Ranga Shankara, Andrea, Coordt and I enjoyed several traditional Indian plays from all over India you normally never would get to see as a tourist and even as an Indian you would have to travel all over the country to see these kinds of different performances. As a matter of fact we didn’t understand a single word of the plays in Kannada, Tamil or Urdu, but the way of performing, the wonderful all-over present music and the impressing way of using the body to express feelings made us totally get the atmosphere and the mood of every play. Plus we were lucky enough to see big myths as the Ramayana we just produced in Schnawwl also and the story of Draupadi, this brave Indian heroic woman that fights again her fate of being pushed around and humiliated by men and is rescued by Krishna (?) who sends her a never ending sari so she can’t be seen naked.


Mission Musician

The following days we kept meeting with all kinds of musicians that were masters in handling their exotic and beautiful instruments and as I am rather good with words than scripted music, which means I’m no musician and can’t even keep a rhythm I just attended the jam-session of Coordt and the musicians enjoying the great sounds and rhythm they created without even knowing each other more than a couple of minutes. After some days we found our musicians for “Boy with the suitcase” while being in paradise on earth in form of Kirtana’s and Cookie’s farm out of Bangalore.  Sitting in the open air rehearsal space with a overwhelming view on the amazing countryside with its banana trees and round shaped stones and hills, Andrea and I got lost in the soundscapes the six musicians including brilliant and famous Pallavi, who will sing and act in “Boy” created and made us shiver with their heartbreaking improvisation of a Lullaby. Together with Shrunga, who will also act in the play, the musicians improvised on scenes in the play and invented sounds for a scene in the mountains or expressed an emotional sound setting for the children’s’ work in a sewing factory.


“Mergendising”

For “Boy with the suitcase” as a co production of Ranga Shankara and Schnawwl on all levels we want to collaborate not only on stage, but also have a common poster and production design in both cities. So on Monday Gayathri and Arundhati set us up with Sonya from “Idiom” a top agency for design and advertising, who does the design for Ranga Shankara. We agreed on having several suggestions for the design from Idiom and from our designer Tanja in Mannheim. The best ideas we will melt in one single design for our poster. I’m already very excited about the proposals and ideas of the designers and I hope we will make up something really excellent and extraordinary but fitting at the same time for both theatres and countries. Big challenge, I like that!

Cyber Classes

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to two schools Kirtana had gotten in touch with for our outreach project “Cyber Classes&Virtual Pen friends”. This project wants to connect classes from Mannheim with classes from Bangalore so not only our theatres will benefit from our artistic exchange but also our young audience can get the most out of this interaction. The Cyber Classes give students the opportunity to exchange via internet, by blogging on one hand and by writing emails on the other hand. Additionally to an personal exchange about the different ways of life in Mannheim and Bangalore the students can ask each other about, they will get to know a lot about theatre in both countries as all classes taking part in the project will meet our ensemble of “Boy with the suitcase” during the rehearsals in Bangalore and Mannheim and they will also see the show and discuss about it. The project will be from January till July and it will end with a meeting of everybody on the internet during a skype conference with cameras, so the students can talk and see each other for one time “for real”.

The rock

My most amazing experience was our very early morning walk upon a hill near Kirtana’s and Cookie’s farm. After having wandered through high grass, banana trees, having jumped over a small creek and fought against bushes with bamboo sticks we reached the steep rock. As my shoes had no grip I was forced to leave them at its foot. First I was not comfortable with the idea of climbing the huge rock with bare feet, still having in mind the stories about snakes and spiders Vindi, a wild camp guide, was happy to tell me in the evening before (and by that arrived easily to freak me out for the rest of the night and for the big amusement of the rest of the others). But against all my fears and expectations my skin on the stone wasn’t hurt at all, but the moment I touched the solid and at the same time soft ground, I felt an enormous energy floating my whole body which I never felt before. I don’t want to sound like that Elizabeth Gilbert woman and talk about spiritual stuff, but being on that rock in the silent and still air of morning, facing a landscape so unknown and beautiful touched and marked me in a way I surely shall never forget in my life. Thank you so much, Kirtana!

Extensive Experiences 10: Kirtana trains German actors in Kalari

The opening play of the next season at Schnawwl will be "Das Lied von Rama" by Tor Åge Bringsværd. For this production Kirtana Kumar is spending two weeks in Mannheim training the actors in Kalari payattu, a martial art from South India. Read about her personal and professional experiences here:

http://infinitesoulsfarmandartistsretreat.blogspot.com/search/label/germany

Experiences 8: Artistic Director Arundhati Nag on the German luxury of subsidised theatre

This is my third German festival ("Schöne Aussicht" in Stuttgart) and my second theatre for children festival and I am completely in awe of the fact that Germany has build this movement of theatre for children, which we could emulate in India also. Its very recent that theatre has been brought into the Indian educational system as an optioal subject, for students at the 10^th standard level (16 years old), so we have a long way to go, considering the number of people and the shere size if the country, the diversity of languages. Tt will mean very large political will to bring in change for all. Ranga shankara is a small dot on the map which has this collaboration with Schnawwl and I am an fortunate Indian to have seen these festivals – this is a beginning and there is hope.

Experiences 7: Costume Designer Amba Sanyal on the Germans & Truth

The festival has been a revelation as to the way the German percieve reality.
The need to tell the truth, which might not encompass the TRUTH.
But it opens windows, which is very interesting as it gives you a peak into the German mind and rythms.

Experiences 6: actor Shrunga's thoughts on the Cold, Warmth & Magnitudes

Cold....
I had heard people telling me about how cold the can be, but i had a first hand, first body experience when i got out of my Lufthansa flight at Frankfurt. The cold can just get into ur system in a few moments if u r not prepared for it... Luckily, i was.

Warmth....
I was pretty ill equipped to handle the warmth that i got here....
Having heard stories of the German discipline and punctuality, i was pretty nervous comin here...
But it was all dispelled by the hospitality, the warmth, the openness, the spirit, the cozyness of all the people here...

Workshops?.....
Funshops rather!!
The ``Do I Know U`` game, which gave insights into eachother, without being judgemental;
The ``Sheep and Shepherd``, which was so much fun especially for a person as disoriented as me!!;
The ``Sunnnies and the Moonies``, which made us literally roll on the floor! But at the same time, opened me up to explore the differences in our way of expression;
The ``Kalaripayattu``, which i ve alwayz been a fan of and been wanting to learn;
The ``Konakhol``, which actually has opened up new avenues for me personally (Am thinking of creating poetry in a serious way now:))....
The ``Translation Line``, that can open up a world of possibilities of saying the same thing in a hundred different ways...
Cant forget the improvisation that me n Nikolai did!
It started with us having to say the same story in two different ways... But then, it took on a totally different and hilarious colour, and it ended up with me and him in each other´s arms on the floor!
They ve all been great learning experiences and great fun at the same time....

Magnitude......
The sheer magnitude of the Mannheim National Theatre has totally bowled me over....
I witnessed the magic that a technologically advanced theatre and stage and set can weave.

Do i know me?!!.........
And my people?? No i dint!
Many things about our own culture were alien to me!
But this journey s helped me to unearth a lot of questions...
Questions that will take a long time to be answered...

But right now, am just gobbling it all up.... Not thinking too much...
I ll chew the cud some time later...

Experiences 5: Pallavi's impressions - ten days in Germany

“Is this a dream?” I ask myself. No. I am lying on a bed looking at the ceiling and it is not my house. I thought I had dreamt it – the magical evening of asparagus at Credi’s, Turandot’s voice sailing above the tenors and the sopranos that had surrounded us with their larger-than-life vocals, the suave conductor confidently creating ripples of music by the wave of his hand, ballet dancers creating a new film noir vocabulary to show us Frank Zappa’s music and Jack Kerouac’s poem, the never-ending corridors of Mannheim Schloss, Mr.Wind opening the magical opera theatre doors to us and walking us in and out of the unending rooms reserved for make-up, costumes, lights, curtains, storage and more storage, savouring the spicy Indian meal that Aru cooked for us, meeting the Schnawwl team- realistically speaking, this had to be a dream. But it was not. This is a dream that Rangashankara and Schnawwl dreamt, a dream that Aru and Andrea dreamt, a dream that two cities dreamt, a dream that two countries dreamt. I am in the dream. I am still in the dream. We meet the Schnawwl team. Dedicated and hardworking Andrea, supercool Credi, gorgeous Evi, super-efficient Anne, soft-spoken Julia, gentle and caring Anne, quicksilver Coordt, mysterious and urban David, ever-smiling Simone, charming Nikolai, full of wonder Maike, strong and rebellious Jule, beautiful Angelika and the most un-German German I have met - Sophia. Ten days ago, my life was different. I didn’t know these people. Today, I am wondering how do I leave them and go away. I also have met Shrunga, Amba, Srini and Kirtana after I come here. Now they are friends for life. Journeys influence me. I change after each journey. I doubt if the journeys of the characters of our play are as magical as this one that has just begun. That remains to be seen. As for now, more of ‘Berlin 1961’, ‘Kill the Katz’, ‘Risiko’, ‘Echoa’, ‘Open Circle’ and many more. Set the sails, we are off to wonderland.

Experiences 4 : Marcela Herrera and Anne Gorath, theatre pedagogues on conducting a 10-Day-Workshop in Bangalore

We were very excited when we heard we should come to India to conduct a 10-day-Workshop on theatre for toddlers. We didn´t know what to expect. We had heard a couple of things about Indians - for example that they are not very punctual in comparison to us Germans and that it is difficult to criticize openly. But during our stay, we experienced just the opposite!

On Monday the 31st August we arrived at the Ranga Shankara. 17 theatre colleagues from all over India welcomed us and told us about their background. 

Lots of unusual names were said and we were wondering if we would be able to remember them quickly. We managed, after a few hours we knew not only the names but got to know our colleagues much better. 

Right from the first day we felt that there was an amazing energy in the group! Everyone was absolutely full of wonder, excitement and openness. 7 days we worked together with the whole group. Two days more we could work with the colleagues from Bangalore. 
After understanding the production and research process of the play “The big Lalula”, our colleagues developed ideas and concepts for theatre games and their own performances. Some of them could be “tested” in a day nursery straight away.
It was an overwhelming time of exchange. We got to know our colleagues, learned about there ways of working and the structural problems that theatre people in India struggle with. We learned about Indian theatre traditions and that many issues do not depend on which country or culture one is from!

 

It was an intense time of exchange. We were amazed about the willingness to experiment together. The openness to criticize each other, the trust were there right from the beginning.
At the end of the workshop we saw performance concepts and game ideas where the year long experiences of our colleagues was well visible. 

Back in Mannheim we are still very excited and hope that the seeds that have been sown are going to grow and that there will soon be some performances for very young children. We are hpoing to stay in contact and continue the  exchange and hopefully we can also come and see the productions!

What is amazing in India is traffic. In Germany it would not work as it works in India. Many cars, motorbikes and rikshas are supposed to share the street. Even if it seems to be too tight or too narrow every now and then, it works.  Using the horn in this context is not – as in Germany- an expression of anger or aggression, no, it rather shows all traffic participants who´s on the road and who the attention should be shared with. Using a riksha nearly every morning as a person from Germany you need to relax. You need to get used to it. And you´ll see that it works. You also need to get used to the sound that goes with it. Being next to a main road means that you´ll always hear the beeping and the horns. In the workshop room, in the Ranga Shankara, in the hotel room, you´ll always have that background sound.

Experiences 3 - Schnawwl Director Andrea Gronemeyer about the five days of "Think Tank" in Bangalore

Only one week in Bangalore changes my view of my own country. Stepping out of the air plane in Germany, taking the train early Saturday morning, I am stunned how quiet and slow live seems to be here, birds singing, fresh air. But the few people that I meet on the street on my way home don’t seem to be happy about this, they don’t recognize me and look somehow worried, nobody would answer my good morning smile. I am tired not only because of the long flight, but because of so many impressions that I take home with me. 
                      
In our so called "think tank", Arundhati Nag, Sophia Stepf, Gayathri Krishna, Christian Thurm and me had been working on the shape of our co-production that would be the third step of the entire project “Do I know you”. The first idea that we all agreed to explore was the staging of the Friedrich Schiller’s play “Intrigue and Love” with a mixed Indian-German cast. The reading of the play evoked an interesting discussion: the theme of impossible love between people of different castes or religion seems to be a very contemporary question in Indian 
society, such a hot topic that it is the topic of nearly every second Bollywood movie. What can a two hundred year old German play add to this current discussion, is it able to open a new point of view? Is there any need to also look at the political implications of the play dealing with the emancipation of the German bourgeoisie of the 18^th century? The next day we listenend to the reading of a very important Indian play form1972, Girish Karnad's “Hayavadana”, a post-colonial interpretation of the old folk tale “The transposed heads”, which is known also in Germany because of the Thomas Mann’s novel that is also based on it. A great play with an interesting epical structure that suits the aesthetics of nowadays theatre for young people in Europe. It’s a very challenging play, full of references to problems of modern Indian society torn between cultural roots and the western culture that has been transposed on them. It took us Germans some time to understand the abstract philosophical metaphors of the play, which we gratefully got to know. Some days and a trip to Mysore and meetings with many artist later we all agreed, that we should not end the discussion about the topic too early. We all want a play that really exites our young audience in Bangalore as well as in Mannheim. We agreed on a political topic and a form that can also entertain und startle our audiences. The idea to ask a contemporary Indian playwright to create something very special for our co-production, in a good cooperation with the German directing staff, maybe based on a tale or a novel seems to be a good way to approach this goal.
I leave Bangalore with the impression that we have made a big step. All the discussions and meetings, but also the experience of life in Bangalore, food, smells, sounds, smiles, the wonderful hospitality of Arundhati Nag, Gayathri Krishna and the the excitement  and passion about theatre form all the young volunteers that guided and supported us helped me make a big step towards knowing my partners better.


Andrea Gronemeyer

Experiences 2 - Christian Thurm, stage designer about looking at roofs and material for the RS production of "Robinson& Crusoe"

Context: As part of the partnership, Ranga Shankara is producing the play " Robinson & Crusoe" , which in the Schnawwl production had traveled to Bangalore in 2006 and won the hearts of the Bangalore audiences. The play is set on a swimming roof in the ocean, on which two soldiers from enemy armys meet. They do not speak each others language, but learn to communicate with each other and in the end become friends. In the Schnawwl production one soldiers was played by Gracias Devaraj, a Bangalorian who has been living in Germany for many years. He will now direct the RS production of the play for children 10 years plus with two actors from Bangalore. The stage designer Christian Thurm, who is the technical head of Schnawwl, has come to India for two weeks to look at different kind of Indian roofs, construction techniques and material available. 
Here are his experiences:


"Stage design in India seems to be not quite the same as in Germany. There are many cultural differences and I'm always afraid of making bad mistakes.But there is one thing that makes me calm: The people here in the theatre have the same aim as me. And they are so warm, kind and friendly, that there is no need for fear.

And so I went around and found the steel I need in the city.

and for alternative also some aluminium profile. I've seen wood that works for my construction and what is most important, I've seen a lot of different typical Indian roofs and their construction underneath, in a museum in Chennai, so that i can choose what is needed. 

I was accompagnied by Raghu, a 21 Year old student who knew a lot about Indian architecture.

Now I just wait for the main decision of Graci (the Director) about which direction he wants the stage design to take: Abstract or naturalistic - that will determine the final design."

 
Christian Thurm

Experiences 1: Jule Kracht, actress about her six days in Bangalore

it is saturday and i am sitting in sophia's hotel room and thinking about the last 6 days! a t 2pm i will be on the flight back to frankfurt, where hopefully my little girl and my husband will wait for me!
this was a very short time in india and even for bangalore it was not enough, but it was filled with hundreds of experiences! the theatre "ranga shankara" was such a beautiful place where i felt very comfortable! also the festival "aha" was really well organised ! we had enough time for reharsels and to build up our stage ! there where lots of great volenteers who helped us with everything !

and it didn't matter if we needed a help with a spotlight or a nice shopping tour through bangalore! even our performances where such nice experiences ! i was very exited to perform in front of so many indian children and on top of that my english is not the best !  the space was very big, so normally we perform in front of 30 children and now in one show there were around 150 people! so it was big fun ! the shows very well and i really enjoyed myself and had the feeling that there is a really open minded audience in bangalore! after the shows a lot of people came to me and asked me questions or told me that they liked it very much and the children came to me on the stage and said thank you and told me their names!

the city of bangalore is a really big town and has two different worlds, one is very rich and similar to ours but on the other side you have poverty and pollution! for example: you buy a south indian meal (which is a lot to eat, see picture below) in a local restaurant and you pay 20 rupees and in the evening you go to a upper class night club and you pay 300 rupees  for a beer!

the food is very nice but for me it's all a bit similar in taste! you have different types of dosa, which are some kind of pancakes with vegtables, potatos and some nice dips! it can be very hot! but the best thing is, my stomach is feeling fine! one thing that makes me really laugh are the homeless cows everywhere! they walk between the cars and the rikshas, it is unbelievable!

so now i am very rich of experience and hope i will visit this place again!

 

me in the mouse costume with arundhati