ROHIT JOSHINainital: A dark, damp room with shabby furniture next to Naini lake echoes with loud voices of some theatre actors. To an outsider it would seem like an unusual place for a rehearsal.But the group of seven men rehearsing for a play based on Nikolai Gogol’s story, ‘The Portrait’ is thankful to have a corner to practise.“We were rehearsing on the banks of the lake when a member of Uttarakhand Parivahan Majdoor Sangh saw us and asked whether we would like to rehearse inside their office,” said Rajesh Arya, a senior theatre activist. Arya added, “It’s quite challenging to find a place for rehearsal or even to stage a play in the town. We have to practise in parks or other public places and stage our plays in community halls.”Despite a long tradition of theatre, the hill town lacks an auditorium for artistes to rehearse or stage their plays. “We have been demanding an auditorium for years. But no government or district administration has made sincere efforts to give a boost to the theatre scene here,” said Zahoor Alam, director of Yugmanch, the oldest theatre group in the city.Theatre artistes said that the town has no dearth of talent but having no infrastructure to practise or perform was a deterrent. Many artistes from the city have gone on to be part of the National School of Drama, Film Training Institute of India and Bollywood. Among the doyens of the stage from the hill town are B M Sah, Nirmal Pandey, Ishaan Trivedi, Gyan Prakash, Gopal Tiwari, Sudarshan Juyal, Jitendra Bisht, Idreesh Malik and Suman Vaidya.Elaborating on the rich history of theatre in Nainital, Shekhar Pathak, an eminent historian and social scientist, said, “The city has a long tradition of theatre. Initially, religious theatre was big here. In the British period, there were two forms, one was known locally as Shakespearana theatre and the second was Hindustani theatre.”Vishambhar Nath Sah ‘Sakha’, a senior theatre artist from the city, added, “Legendary artists like B M Sah, Jagdamba Prasad, Bipin Upreti, Ramesh Chaudhary, Pyare Sah and Girda introduced the richest traditions of the world theatre here.”Bollywood actor Lalit Tiwari from Nainital said, “During my initial days in theatre, I took lessons from various theatre groups here. To build an auditorium is expensive and artistes can’t afford to do it themselves. This is something that only the government can do.”Theatre actor Anil Karki added, “A vibrant theatre scene can attract tourists looking for some art and culture to the town. The government should take initiatives to promote theatre in the city.”Talking to TOI, Deependra Chaudhary, district magistrate, said, “Lack of space will make it difficult to build an auditorium here. But we can certainly look into constructing one on the outskirts of the city like in Khurpatal. The administration will draft a proposal and send it to the government.”

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