Reading for the soul

A group of professionals gather to read plays every alternate Sunday

A group of professionals gather to read plays every alternate Sunday

For many of us Sundays are meant to laze around. But, there are a few who like to do things differently. We caught up with a group of professionals from diverse fields who meet on alternate Sunday evenings to read English plays.

The 'alternate Sunday play reading,' sessions take place as the name suggests every alternate Sunday. With its humble beginnings this year, they are already down a couple of offbeat sessions.

"We read primarily to develop a habit of play reading," Yashwanth Madhusudan, an IT professional says. They do this purely for academic interests and also as a way of improving the appeal towards theatre by choosing scripts, which people might enjoy watching in a live performance. Their goal is consistency and he adds, "We want to do this on a consistent basis."

The reading sessions over here are very informal and everybody takes part. Readers are not forced to use emotions while reading and it is totally up to them. Vikram Rai, CEO, SATTVA says, "You can read it as you want with emotions or just plain, we do not force."

Cubbon Park was where they first began reading plays and later in the Suchitra Film Society. But, for the past two months, they have made Alliance Francaise their adda. Their main objective is to promote a play reading culture in the city, while creating awareness about English theatre through regular reading sessions. Vikram says, "In this way, we can reach out to a new set of people on a regular basis."

However, this group before reading plays has formed the habit of contacting the right authorities governing the books intellectual property rights. The West follows a system of ticketed reading sessions but it is still new in India. Vikram adds, "We need permission to read a play and at the end of the day we want to be in the right."

The group is also trying to forge co-operation with Samuel French, a company that has been publishing and marketing plays since 1830 and holds copyrights to thousands of titles. They reach out to people through various networked communities like Facebook and Twitter.

Play reading might be new to them but they are already a known face in the literary scene. They are part of Version One Dot Oh! (VODO), an English theatre group formed in 2004. They have performed more than 50 shows like Dario Fo's, Can't Pay Won't Pay, Sriranga's, Shadows in the Dark to the most recent The Cyclist by Vijkay Tendulkar.

At Alliance Francaise, Vasantnagar
When November 23, 3.30pm
Call 9880426783
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