Theatre: An Art Form That Requires GenZ’s Attention

‘Theatre’, the word has lost most of its shine and relevance in modern times due to the glamourous and overpowering art of cinema. The affinity and passion for art are slowly diminishing in the hearts and minds of the Gen Z youth. One of the biggest contributing factors to this shift in interest has been the coming of modern technology and fast-paced gadgets and gizmos.

The snappy smartphones have reduced the attention span of the youth from 15 seconds to 3 seconds in the past decade, as stated in a study conducted by AAHPERD. The liking has shifted towards the more fascinating form of media, cinema and other new media, namely online streaming content. It is easy to access, share and is admittedly cheaper than buying a ticket to watch a play or attend a seminar. Due to this ease of access, the youth of this country has almost forgotten the art and heritage which is the root of all forms of entertaining content that we watch online. 

We must not forget that theatre as an artform may be old or outdated but it remains one of the most impactful and gripping forms of communication. The genesis of theatre, acting and drama have often been credited to the Greeks and the Romans, but the reality is slightly different. Man has always used hand actions and facial expressions to communicate with fellow homo sapiens. Even today we use the same skills when we want to put a message, command or our feelings to someone who doesn’t speak our language or heck even if its an animal.

Watching a performance live is not only about respecting this age-old art but also one can feel the emotion in real life and share the same energy as the actors who perform certain characters on stage. Moreover, a monologue or a fact said by an actor sounds and feels more relatable when the actor has the liberty to break the fourth wall and talk directly into your eyes. People accolade Deadpool for being a relatable and entertaining movie. Now you know where this phenomenon arises from. 

At Rawdust, it is our constant effort to bring deep-rooted stories to the people via the medium of theatre. Stories that can be witnessed by anyone in their day to day life. Our first production, Khandani Golmaal, which recently completed 3 successful shows across 2 states, was an attempt at bringing the classic con family situations in a comic fashion. With Laqeer, we intend on telling the audiences the true and unfiltered story of one of the most hard-hitting incidences of our nation; the India- Pakistan partition of 1947.

It follows the life of a naive British woman who comes to India in search of a better future. She gets wrapped up in the unforgiving phase of the separation and incurs a great loss. Unchanged, she sets out on a journey, leaping forward, outside her comfortable and ignorant lifestyle into the dingy ally ways of Lahore. Even though she is surrounded by the constant fear of being lynched by the extremists and the hyper nationalists, she decides not to be afraid and tread her path fearlessly. The journey makes her meet people from different parts of the society who have different treatment towards her and the changes going around them. All she wants to do is reunite her family to her homeland. It will be interesting to find out if she’ll be able to do that amidst all the chaos and hardships. The show is on the 11^th of August this year at YB Chavan Auditorium, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tickets for the same are available exclusively on BookMyShow. In today’s times, this play is also an eye-opener. It reminds us of all of the facts that the word “Secular” has still not been removed from our constitution.

Tickets available @ BookMyShow https://bit.ly/2YCg0j0

For offline passes contact Rohit Thadhani – 9819232779