Borrowing his name from the famed painter, K Raja Ravi Verma comes across as a man with a plan. With dedicated training received in close to 11 types of traditional movement arts that include Yoga, Tai Chi and Thang-Ta, Raja Ravi Verma teaches theatre at the Pondicherry University. He has been working as an actor, director, assistant director, course director, dance teacher, martial arts teacher, actor trainer, resource person and a demonstrator in theatre. His works, mainly ‘Thenali Raman’ written by N. Muthuswamy and ‘An Actor’s Chaos’, which is a result of his own experiences in Acting have been widely recognised. The following interview was conducted on the last day of the Intensive Drama Program (IDP), organized by Theatre Professionals in collaboration with the NCPA.
Asmit Pathare
Over the years how have have you arrived at the training methodologies that you use in class?
From day one of my MA in Drama & Theatre Arts ( 1988-1990 ) at Pondicherry University, I was equipping myself towards Acting. At the initial stage I was struggling quite a bit and thought that what ever came my way should not be dropped. So I started to make notes of various exercises and talks and practiced whatever I understood. Yoga was my first form of movement practice.
After I joined the Koothu-p-pattarai theatre repertoire in Chennai, I was exposed to various form of movements like Silambam , Kalaripayattu, Tang-Ta & Tai-chi-Chuan ( Martial Arts ) , Yoga, Vippasana , Art of Living ( Meditations ) , Devarattam, Voilattam, Thudumbattam , Kolattam , Modern Dance workshops ( Dance ) and Therukoothu ( Folk Theatre ) and some of the important Modern Theatre exercises from accomplished actor trainers like N.Muthuswamy , Vincent Rouche , Neelia Vexsal, Ruth Aayal, Gil Alon , Anmol Vellani & Manevendhranath. Even though my basic materials were from the above sources I have learnt to put things in a context. And the credit for this goes to my two Yoga Gurus E.R.Gopalakrishnan & T.V.Ragu Ananthanarayan.
Through 17 years of practice and continuous enquiry, through dealing with problems in work & workshop situations, I have evolved my methodology for movement classes. But it is not the end. I am still continuing to learn myself, confront newer issues, keep the process of inquiry alive through practice. Now I hope that I have reached a level to understand problems actors face and sketch out some solutions. Today I am working in the same Department where I studied as Lecturer (Pondicherry University), trying to improve on the Acting and Training methods.
Who have your mentors been?
Mr. N.Muthuswamy; he is my Guru . He is a Playwright and Actor Trainer and a follower of J.Krishnamoorthy. His thoughts, speech and guidance have affected me deeply. Mr. TV Ragu Ananthanarayan taught me how to use theatre activities for employees of corporates and for personal stress management programs.
Dr.Thulasi. Ramasamy ; He was my PhD guide. He guided me for my thesis – ‘Theories of Acting in Modern Tamil theatre ‘ ( University of Madras ).
Mr. Pralayan; He guided me in street theatre. He is the Director of Chennai Kalai Kuzhu, Chennai.
Are there any kind of specific exercises that you always do or are your training modules completely dependent on the program for the workshop?
Of course there are certain basic exercises for all workshops but the shape (form) of the exercise depends on the nature of the workshop. The basic modules I follow are from yoga sutra - programming method- that is the first thing. Action plan comes next. Then it is about Reaching the Goal and finally a Compensation plan.
My training borrows from what I have learnt, from what I find myself doing and there is always that space for what is possible in the future. So, in a way there are fixed and non fixed things in my training module.
In a scenario where theatre is rarely practiced full-time and where most actors work from production to production, at times infrequently how is it possible to achieve the fine balance between training and practice?
If you really realize the need for training, as an instrument player tuning his instrument before starting to play, then you can find time for it within your rehearsal or practice. Tamil proverbs “ suvarilamal chithiramilai” ( without a canvass/ wall drawing is not possible, without tuning the body you can not do any aesthetic activities ) , “ adimuthal mudi varai chokka koothin abhinayam “ ( from the feet to hair the acting is to happen ) emphasize physical training. Initially when koothu-p-pattarai was a part time theatre group, they worked from evening to late night in Chennai city and some of them had only bicycles to travel to home ( about 15 kilometers ). Still, the first activity was warming up for 2 hours, followed by theatre exercises and then yoga. The style of productions were mostly non realistic and experimental.
But when you talk about cities and mostly realistic plays, at least one hour practice to tune your body and voice is necessary. It can be a group or an individual activity of any kind or form of exercise. But it must be a compulsory activity. Today, because of the advancement in everything, each play production or director needs a particular way of warming up to meet the acting tasks. So, a theatre group or an individual has to have a warm-up session (Designed from past learning or training).
Some characteristics that define your style of training...
I follow what can be called the natural way; wake-up, get ready, go to work, work, come back home, and sleep; - the life cycle. It is there in the yoga programming method and it has rules for resting as well. It’s part of my overall program design. While executing the method I bear in mind that I should not lose the participant’s interest and logic (meaning) behind what I set out to do.
I usually draw on some elements from each of my learning sources (as mentioned above) and meet the problem/s or needs as required. But externally it all looks like a martial art oriented class, because I draw a lot of movements from the martial arts.
Just as training helps an actor hone and develop his/her skills, is there ever the danger of 'being trapped' in a particular style or school of acting?
Training from various sources related to the theatre ultimately goes towards sharpening the body, voice, mind and imagination / creativity. There are 3 levels of training always: 1. Short term, 2. Long term and 3. Open ( endless ). The first two have a goal or a target, but the 3rd one is aimless in the hope that some thing will be useful at some time; for facing some task in the future. So, in the 3rd mode there is no selective learning , but unquestioned and continuous learning. From the above 3 things, it is mostly the selective learning that traps the actor in a particular style or school of acting . But for an actor all three are a must. Because today everything depends on how your product is better and different from other products. So, a closeness (particular style) of how effectively one does things today and an openness (not fixed style) towards the future are both necessary.
This is not to say that one has to master every skill but that knowledge of various things is helpful. Ultimately it is about equipping one’s self to face any task in the art of acting. To give you an example- a Bharatnatyam dancer wants to do theatre. The ultimate aim is to do theatre. So, the other form only supports the actor. These forms are linear but theatre is round. It borrows from various sources.
What are the key words that you'd like your participant-actors to particularly bear in mind after they have been through the process?
Continuous learning from all sources, being open to criticism and fullness in action. Self discipline, learning discipline and work discipline are a must. For the next step (improvement ), you have to pose fundamental questions to your own self, such as- who are you? where are you? and why are you here?
In your long experience as a trainer-practitioner can you recall any one fulfilling experience of having observed your student-actor internalized your training?
I was in the Gurukulam kind of learning system under Shri. N. Muthuswamy for 12 years . To date he has never claimed me as a disciple. Instead he used to say “ A trained person by koothu-p-pattarai can be one of the best actor-trainers in the world of Theatre.”
Likewise I don’t pick out students as the ones, who have fully internalized my training. I rather prefer to look at what might have touched different students at different points in time. By the end of the training or sometimes later, there are students who say that that I helped them in a particular area that they needed help with. Thus, I can think of many students who touched my feet or hugged me.
Depending on the student’s needs, I become a Folk Dance teacher, a Tai-chi Master, a Kalari Master, a Movement specialist , an Actor-Trainer or a Theatre Anchor person for corporate workshops and so on. At present I am connected with the theatre group RAFIKI in Bangalore on a long term basis, and I do hope that they will understand and realize my training methodology through what what they might do in the future.
*This interview is fourth in the series of exclusive interviews with the workshop conductors of the Intensive Drama Program (IDP), which took place at the NCPA from 4th-16th May 2009. The IDP was one of its kind of theatre workshops organized by Theatre Professionals in collaboration with the NCPA. The interviewer, Asmit Pathare is a young theatre enthusiast. His theatre experience dates back to his college days in Sangli. He has actively participated and assisted in various theatre productions in Mumbai. He is interested in films, writes poetry and has his own blog.
Click below to read the other interviews by the workshop conductors of the intensive drama programme.
