The Nehru Centre's annual, national Drama festival in Mumbai recently played out its 11th edition. Now this festival happens to be one of the most expensive, but very badly organised events. A number of reasons such as the lack of proper scheduling and the poor selection of plays that seem to be chosen with no visible criteria are responsible for the overall declining standards of the festival.

As far as the planning and the publicity of this mega event is concerned, no attempts are made to get in touch with people who are regularly writing about the theatre or those who are genuinely interested. Members of the press are contacted in a haphazard manner and the greater chances are that they would miss the press conference. Independent attempts by these members to later gain information and access to the festival are treated in a high-handed or indifferent manner. The festival organizers while sending information to city newspapers forget that there are free-lance writers and critics who need to be informed too. Because of the routine press note that is sent to the newspaper office rather than to the theatre critic, it is likely that the person attending the conference may not necessarily be a drama critic or a theatre columnist.

It was alright till I was writing a regular weekly column on the theatre in one of the English dailies. But since my column stopped and I became a free-lancer, each year at the Nehru Centre has been difficult. I have to beg for press passes and answer rude questions about my credentials as a theatre journalist. Nonetheless I persevere for my interest in the theatre is now bigger than my self-respect! While this year the lady at the desk was quite polite and helpful, a colleague who writes regularly for 'The Hindu' (Chennai based newspaper) was asked to get the letter from her Editor! A nearly empty press row and the conspicuous absence of some of the most respected theatre columnists of Mumbai, screams for the need to replace the bureaucracy with imaginative, objective and visionary people at the top to plan an event of such a scale. Or else how can we expect good theatre to flourish under such callousness?

I have even failed to understand the logic of having such an event 'free for all', without charging even marginal entry fees. People who are genuinely interested in the theatre will not mind paying and being part of something worth their money. Again some how after one manages to obtain the entry cards and reach the venue - before half an hour-stand in a queue, you are left with your mouth open as people with or without VIP passes, brush aside the guards and go in and out, while journalists with the press pass are expected to stand in a queue. Not only that but uncaring gatekeepers also refuse entry to the senior citizens, wanting to go to the toilet or to the cafeteria. They direct them to walk four or five time longer the distance to avail of the same facilities.

Inside the auditorium a similar scenario awaits. There is one row reserved for the press and the first six rows are for members of the Nehru Centre. These members have the liberty to enter late and march right to the first row or leave any time in between the performance, thus disturbing the entire audience and the ongoing performance in the process. Apart from high level connections, what is the contribution of these privileged members? After those reserved six rows, the seventh row is for the press and the two to three rows, which fall behind the row for the press, are for drama students of the Nehru Centre. The remainder of the seats are for the Aam Janta.

I wonder where does the finance to fund such a mega event come from? This question needs to be addressed for more than one reason. Generally till last year, Hindi and some of the Marathi plays were scheduled for the evening shows and other language plays were performed during the afternoon. This time though there were few exceptions. There was some flexibility in the programme. But generally speaking, the afternoon shows have poor attendance and sadly outstanding plays have been performed to just about 150 to 200 viewers. In the first six rows reserved for the members, there were only twelve people for OH LEAR, a Kannada play, which was one of the best productions this year.

Then how does one expect theatre lovers to see two plays in one day and that too on weekdays? May be the answer to that is that the audience can select the plays they wish to see. Even if that reasoning is logical, it is a pity to see most afternoon shows playing to a nearly empty auditorium. Since 75% of the plays that are performed are mediocre, it is not surprising that select theatre groups have monopolised the festival with substandard work for more than a decade and go as far as to brag about their work.

I am looking for some answers. What is the purpose of a festival like the Nehru Centre, which claims to be a National festival? What are the selection criteria? Why are below average productions from the same local groups being invited repeatedly? Is there any method of evaluating the performance of the group? Are audience or media responses taken into account? Is it worth staging plays to nearly empty houses during afternoon shows? This year too, the plays staged by a revered old thespian like Mr. K.N. Panikkar, who had travelled all the way from Kerala faced an empty house!

A well-known director who staged a sloppy adaptation of a Shakespeare play thanked the Nehru Centre officials for inviting her to perform every year. Another theatre person declared his gratefulness for staging plays ever since the festival's inception. Never mind if his students' prtoduction was like an amateurish students' gathering. What is the compulsion to include students' productions if they don't meet the required standards?

The festival inspite of being in its eleventh year is still to meet the basic requirement of organisational skills. From the twenty-one plays presented at the festival this year, only five to six were worth a watch. How long can one continue to keep quiet about such a state of affairs?

*The writer is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as 'The Asian Age' and is a regular contributor to the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She also offers theatre training to students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is an important critical voice for the Gujarati Theatre.