Patna: Long before English theatre became closely associated with metropolitan centres such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, Patna had built a vibrant amateur theatre tradition that staged classics of William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, George Bernard Shaw and several modern playwrights. Theatre practitioners, however, say the city’s once-thriving English theatre culture began to decline in the early 1980s because of changing audience preferences, migration and the advent of television.One of the earliest efforts to institutionalise English theatre in the city came in 1967 when European Jesuit priest Father Haas, along with social figure Annie Mukhopadhyay, launched the three-day ‘All Patna One-Act Plays Festival’. The festival brought together school and college students as well as amateur theatre groups from different parts of the country. After Father Haas left Patna, Mukhopadhyay continued promoting English theatre through amateur productions.The movement gathered further momentum in 1969 when English professor Mahashweta Ghosh Narain founded the amateur theatre group Play-doers. The group staged acclaimed productions such as ‘The Glass Menagerie’, ‘The Maids’, ‘The Chairs’, ‘Old Times’ and ‘The Zoo Story’ at venues including Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir and Rabindra Bhawan.Muniba Sami, retired professor of English at Patna University and founder of the Harlequins Theatre Workshop, recalled that the city’s English theatre movement was sustained almost entirely by amateur enthusiasts. “We sold tickets, arranged sponsorships and gradually laid the foundation of the Harlequins Theatre Workshop in 1975,” she said, adding that members handled everything from acting and direction to lighting and sound with the support of friends and volunteers.According to Sami, English theatre in Patna today is largely limited to nativity plays and productions staged by missionary schools and colleges.Former Bihar Sangeet Natak Academy chairperson Shanker Ashish Dutt described 1982 as a watershed year for the movement. “The last play we staged was Joe Orton’s ‘Loot’, which had nine shows in Patna and was a major success. But with the arrival of television and the gradual migration of the English-speaking audience for higher studies and jobs, English theatre suffered a major setback,” he said.Dutt said attempts to revive English theatre through the Anglo-Indian Association (Bihar chapter) between 2008 and 2010 could not be sustained because of financial and organisational constraints.Despite the decline, both Sami and Dutt believe the city still has the potential to revive English theatre if educational institutions open their productions to the wider public. Sami cited the recent staging of George Bernard Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’ by students of Patna Women’s College as an encouraging example.Tanwir Akhtar, general secretary of IPTA, attributed the decline to structural factors. He said English theatre has historically remained confined to a relatively small, urban audience, limiting both public participation and financial support.
