Members of Aalay perform a play in Bhagalpur. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur, April 7: The ancient silk city that was a centre of art and culture in the past is set to revive its aesthetic glory, courtesy Aalay, a group of young theatre enthusiasts.

Established in 2000, the group has already staged a number of plays and has earned reputation both at home and away. But for the young group, the going has been tough — the artistes do not have a place to rehearse and are forced to use Sandy’s Compound, an open space, for the purpose.

Their theatrical journey began at the turn of the century with a month-long theatre workshop, sponsored by the National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi.

“Senior artistes like Avtar Sahani, Alok Chatterjee and Suresh Sethi were present at the workshop, organised to develop the theatre skills of youths in Bhagalpur,” said Shashi Shanker, the director of Aalay.

The workshop resulted in a production of Vijaydan Dehta’s Fithroti choor. The response of the audience was tremendous.

“We received overwhelming response from the public. That encouraged us to set up Aalay,” said Shanker. A number of theatre lovers in the city patronised the group in its initial years.

Since then, there has been no looking back. Aalay has performed more consistently over the past decade.

In 2007, the group bagged prizes for best music, performance and best direction at the All India Railway Drama Festival, held at Howrah, Bengal for their production of Mahasweta Devi’s Salgirha Ki Pukar. In the same year, they also won a prize at the Patna Youth Festival, and former NSD director Devendra Raj Ankur praised their performance.

In the absence of a theatre, artistes of Aalay have to rehearse under the shade of trees on Sandy’s compound. Rehearsing in open becomes difficult as people crowd the place and disturb the artistes.

“We do not have any place to rehearse space and have to practise our plays in public. It is very difficult, especially for the actresses of the group,” said Shanker.

“Our audience at the compound often comprises only ragpickers. When we stage plays, we not only have to arrange for everything for the production but also the audience. We could perform better if we had proper facilities and a stage,” said Madan, another member of the group.

Sweta, an actor, added: “We need government patronage and a permanent place for rehearsals.”

The group, at times, performs at Kalakendra, the only indoor venue in the city. But there is tough competition from other functions that are also held at the venue, especially weddings in the marriage season.

But such deterrents have not discouraged the group, and they also have a loyal group of followers.“We are always waiting for Aalay’s productions. It has become the epicentre of art and culture in the city,” said Bijaya Mohini, the principal of a private school and a lover of theatre.

The group recently organised a seven-day-long workshop on the use of masks on stage in January.

“At the end of the workshop, we staged a play titled Chhehere pe chhehara in which artistes used masks to convey their feelings, as there was no dialogue in the play. The response of the audience was overwhelming,” said Chaitanya, the director of the play.