Dheera's Workshop of Whimsy

07/02/09

The Kalaghoda Festival once again and time to go into a blue bubble of literary bliss. Many congratulations to the organizers of the literary workshops for children and adults and the 5pm onward program at the David Sassoon Library. Several new elements were introduced this year including works from Marathi, Gujarati and Urdu. The discussions were vibrant and the book releases relevant.

The workshop Writing for the Theater, conducted by the dynamic young playwright, Anuvab Pal was really good. It was a two day interactive workshop and one of the best that I have ever been to in Bombay.

Anuvab encouraged us to share some aspect of what impacted us about a movie or play and skillfully gleaned a word or two from our description to make a long list of what is a must in writing for the theater.

The list included key words like social relevance, issue, setting, visualization, conflict, dialogue, characters, identification, accuracy, emotion, suspense, responsibility and climax, to name a few important ones.

I am keen to write a meaningful play and have the shadow of an idea developing in my mind. If anyone is interested and willing to brainstorm, I would be happy to form a playwrights group.