The Tin Can team strikes a pose for t2 in its rehearsal space. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Set up in July 2006, Tin Can is a youth arts culture platform, best known for its vibrant stage productions Intro, Video and Onko. “Relentless and innovative in the pursuit of quality work,” say co-founders Soumyak Kanti De Biswas, 24, and Tanaji Dasgupta, 23. For those who have not seen the plays, the quick reference is Anjan Dutt’s latest film Madly Bangalee, where the Tin Can team plays the band of the film title (Soumyak, or Kanti, plays Pablo; Tanaji plays Neon).

Come July, Tin Can will be one of two international groups to perform at the Exchange Festival 2009 in Stirling, invited over by the National Theatre of Scotland. Before leaving, Tin Can puts up four shows next week, in a production involving 14 talented youngsters over two consecutive days at Gyan Manch, held in association with t2.

Despite lucrative offers from other cities (including Bollywood projects), Calcutta is where Tin Can wants to stay put. The city serves as inspiration. At the same time, the Tin Can gang admits to “a combination of factors, like the lack of opportunity as a result of or resulting in the set mentality”, as downers.

Though they have managed to stay on top of their game, expectations and financial worries in Calcutta lead to immense stress. “We manage”, says Kanti, because the “basic values shared is that it’s unacceptable to fall short of the mark we have set for ourselves and for the audience”, explains Tanaji.

And Madly Bangalee has raised the expectation bar among a wider audience. “We have been distracted by all the attention and promotions,” they joke.

A Tin Can production is an audio-visual spectacle. Right from its first act, Tin Can has been incorporating live music, innovative techniques in lighting and stage sets and, yes, those costumes!

For the Scotland adventure, Tin Can is joined by Opashona Ghosh and Harsha Khorana on production, with Jivraj Singh, drummer for Pink Noise, at the helm of the live music bit. Other punters on the team include sound designer/DJ Ankit Gandhi Lall, Joyraaj Bhattacharjee on lights, and actors Tanmay Dhanania, Meghna Mukerjee, Sumeet Thakur, Shadab Kamal, Dhruv Mookerji, Anubrata Basu and Roshni Bose, who’s also in charge of costumes.

Dismissing comments on undermining art as entertainment, Kanti retorts, “Quality of art is never denied, ours or anyone else’s”, pointing out that their production last year, Video, discussed some of the most serious youth issues like poverty, drugs and getting entangled in political upheavals. “It was the monotony of the status quo in Calcutta theatre which urged us to bring forward a vibrant youth movement,” explains Tanaji. Thus, Intro was a comment on the city, “without spotlights and spouting ideologies”, he adds. The moot point: it is the post-play experience that matters. A lot.

After Scotland, Kanti and Tanaji want to take a break. Too much on the plate equals no time for reflection. But they wouldn’t want it any other way as they battle it out as entrepreneurs of an art company. They are also open to working with other production houses that are “new and exciting”.

Can’t beat them ? Join them.

Soumyak (top) and Tanaji

MEET TIN CAN

Tin Can is the banner under which Soumyak Kanti De Biswas of Lake Town and Tanaji Dasgupta of Anwar Shah Road founded their theatre, films, photography, design and music company in July 2006.

A platform to utilise talents, Tin Can has had a strong support team, comprising friends and co-actors like Sumeet Thakur, Shadab Kamal and Roshni Bose. Though working with friends is tricky business, Kanti says, “Tin Can is born out of trust. It’s different and comfortable; the pros outweigh the cons.”

Founding Tin Can

Kanti and Tanaji had worked in the theatre circuit in Calcutta and other cities for three years, while in school and college — Jadavpur University for Kanti and St Xavier’s College for Tanaji. “A learning experience”, they admit, though they strongly disagreed with the existing culture. Actor-director Kanti, inspired by British actor-director Simon McBurney, says he “experienced achievement with Tin Can”. Actor-producer Tanaji is inspired by the “smallest of things in everyday life”.

Intro

Intro was Tin Can’s first production, staged in 2006. The hour-long play, on 10 minutes in a tiny Calcutta lane, was a smash hit. Seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old-boy from his verandah, this revamped “newold” play was a collage of many cultures and languages (English, Hindi and Bengali). It included jazz tracks, a song and a dance, quoted Walt Whitman and featured vampires, a drunk garbage man and flies.

A revamped Intro will be staged at Gyan Manch on June 23 and 24. Tin Can also plans to turn the show days into a two-day youth arts festival, showcasing new work in the foyer area.

Achievements

Kanti was a guest youth theatre director at Theatre Royale Plymouth, Tanaji is the assistant director to Aparna Sen’s yet-to-be-released The Japanese Wife as well as The Waiting City

directed by Claire McCarthy and starring Radha Mitchell. The duo were commissioned by the British Council for the City of Literature project, which premiered in the Edinburgh Book Festival 2007. Tin Can has travelled to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to teach drama to children. Both have acted in Madly Bangalee, while Tin Can mates Anubrata plays Benji, Sumeet plays Baji and Roshni plays Joy.

Both assisted at the Prithvi Theatre Festival 2005 and 2006. Kanti won Best Director, while Tin Can scooped up the Best Production Design award at Thespo 2008 in Mumbai. Then there are Tin Can productions like Intro, Video and Onko — original scripts that have received rave reviews — fresh and exuberant.

Future plans

Making Tin Can an international brand. Collaborations are on the cards.