Their world is now a stage

Started by a bunch of youngsters studying at the Osmania University in 1964, the Dramatic Circle of Hyderabad (DCH) marks its 50th anniversary this year. And the group has kick started the year with a play reading and four short performances at Lamakaan, this week.

Performing only English plays, the amateur theatre group has members ranging from 20 to 60-year-olds, all of who have found an outlet for creative expression through acting. Pranava Singhal has been with the group since 1980. “We call ourselves an amateur group because none of us are paid for our involvement. Most of us have serious careers in other fields. But we manage to put in four hours of rehearsal after work because we are highly motivated to keep going,” he explains.

B.S. Prakash has been with DCH even longer, right from 1970. “When you’re acting, you let all your masks fall.  Life, in fact is a lot of acting, when you’re preparing for a play, all that goes,” he says.

Having staged 77 full-length productions and 40 short plays till date, they have had to deal with their fair share of hurdles along the way. “We once attempted to combine the Shylock scene from William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice with Arnold Wesker’s Merchant, which is based on a similar topic. We performed it at the Hari Hara Kala Bhavan, which had a revolving stage, but the stage didn’t move! We had three sets fixed, 180 degrees on each side and we expected to move from position One to Two with the press of a button. But it didn’t happen and we had to manually push it forward,” Prakash shares.

But there have been bouquets as well. “Once somebody said that they liked our production of Equus better that the one at Broadway,” says Pranav, with Prakash jovially chipping in, “We thought so too.”

Having travelled all over the country for numerous festivals, the group even had expats acting in and directing some of their productions.  Vijay Marur, who’s been with DCH since 1984, says, “We’ve had a lot of fun and we hope to continue doing so. We’ve gained so much from theatre and DCH is a group that needs to go on.”