Reading of Woody Allen's God at ISB with Vijay Marur

Theatre is all of this and much more. It is the one art that can merge many others and form a spectacular rainbow of creativity. An opportunity to savor such an art form is what the Theatre Club is representative of.

On Saturday the 13th, 15 brave souls, who chose theatre over MARKSTRAT (“A heinous crime!!” some say) and the Asha Quiz, spent four amazing hours with Mr. Vijay Marur*, to understand a few of its subtleties.

Woody Allen’s play “God” was the focus, which also makes for some really good light reading. The play carries the signature abstractness of Woody Allen’s work and his own blend of quirky humour. If you have enjoyed his work in the talkies, then believe me – you will laugh your guts out reading this one.

We started the workshop by watching the video of the play put up on YouTube (the links are given below for your viewing pleasure). Once we had a broad understanding of each character, we took turns reading different parts, with Vijay guiding us on how to approach particular situations, characters, modulate our voices while delivering dialogues, and become the characters we were enacting.

We slowly shed our inhibitions and fears as we became more comfortable with each other and the characters. The different interpretations that people had of each of the characters, reflected not only the numerous ways in which the characters could be dissected, but also the real inner people behind the future business greats (and the scary part is that they have a twisted sense of humor!! Team mates…look out!!).

All in all we had a lot of fun, got to know a few more people on campus and a little bit more of each other. A few more such fun filled sessions are in the offing with ideas of having a few public reading sessions germinating.

A few of the participants commented on their experiences:

“Being a theatre enthusiast, I saw the challenges involved in conveying visual emotions through play reading and personifying. It was great to have Vijay here at ISB for sailing each of us through GOD.I loved it as this was beginnings of learning to become an artist.” – Kutty Krishnan from the LDP team

“Deep inside all of us is an artist who aspires to overcome his inhibitions and wants to give a voice to the deeper underlying emotions. What better way to give a medium of expression to this artist than to celebrate it in the company of fellow artists on a path of self-discovery. At the inaugural meet of the Theatre Club @ ISB, the artist within us got a chance to seamlessly connect with the characters of a play from a bygone era. Under the watchful eyes & ears of Vijay Marur, we learnt the nuances of emoting our characters and giving them subtle expression by our voice and emotions. With the artist within us truly awakened, we could only ask for more to come.” – Jaydeep Deepak Mody, first time theatre performance.

So join in the festivities everyone and celebrate life for all that it is. The stage beckons…

Youtube links to Woody Allen’s ”God”:

* Vijay Marur is a published author, a poet, a food critic, a featured columnist & TV Anchor and a professional voice-over. He has been involved with theatre from his school and college days and has acted in or directed over 250 productions.