Theatre talk

It is hard to spoof a tragic play like Hamlet, but Evam does it with panache.

Evam Entertainment recently presented Hamlet, the Original Spoof as an interactive theatre performance at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. "This is interactive theatre and it is inclusive," says Sunil Vishnu, actor-director of Evam. "The focus is on engaging with the audience." Three actors acted out the improvised version of Hamlet with plenty of participation from the audience. The play received rave reviews.u00a0

Evam showed its first play to Mallika Sarabhai, who was so impressed that she lent them performing space at her dance school Darpan in Ahmedabad. "The theme of the play left the audience with a question are you going to be part of the crowd or stand up and be counted?" says Karthik Kumar, director and actor, Evam. And ironically, that was what Sunil and Karthik were thinking with regard to their lives as well. "We said, 'no, we don't want to be just like other marketing executives'."u00a0u00a0u00a0

But they had to pay off their education loans first, so they signed up with a placement firm and worked for a couple of years in 9 to 7 jobs. As soon as the loans were repaid, they quit and moved to Chennai. They had saved up Rs 1 lakh each as seed capital for their company. In 2005, they approached the organisers of one of Chennai's premier theatre events and took fledgling footsteps in a world they had hitherto dreamt about.u00a0

To attract young urban audiences, Evam gives free passes to colleges and tech companies. And in spite of giving free passes, Evam is selling at least 30,000 tickets annually for the 70-odd shows it runs every year.u00a0

Evam also runs the Happy Factory, wherein members organise workshops for firms, schools and colleges and take care of all their entertainment and training needs. The workshops are basically plays, full of humour, targeted at employees and students and are designed to energise individuals and act as stress busters.

Evam also creates customised content for a brand, where they get the chance to tell their stories using theatre. "We are playing a game for a bigger audience. Theatre is a performing art. There is no reason why it should be run on grants," says Sunil.u00a0

Evam's future plans include going national with their next two public shows, which are based on Chetan Bhagat's novels One Night @ the Call Centre and Five Point Someone. With these plays, the firm expects to sell 1,50,000 tickets.

Its future plans include 'd sound' and 'd light', wherein Evam will show and train people on how sound and light can add drama to life. Evam plans to add cinema to its portfolio in two years. "We would like to make a movie similar to Khosla ka Ghosla," says Sunil, referring to the 2006 hit.