Children are born actors. They need no training, no speech exercises, no stage or audience. They observe, they absorb and they reflect. All of us have play acted with dolls or cars or with friends etc. atleast once in our childhood. We would hold a doll in each hand and instantly create dialogs in different voices and various voice modulations. That was so much fun. We were never bothered about who watched, or what people thought about us, or whether we were perfect.
We “enjoyed” it and that made it perfect. As we grow, we become aware of our clothes, our body, our smiles, our voice, our behaviour and a lot of other things. Societal restrictions add to these discomforts. The freedom of expression and being ourselves gets lost somewhere along the line for many of us. Theatre comes from the Greek word “Theatron” meaning “Behold”. It is a place of characters, emotions, sounds, voices, body movements, body language, stances and so much more that involves every sense and every bit of the human body.
Theatre can be quiet a support to children and adults who find it difficult to express themselves in a crowd, who have stage fear, who find themselves shy and drawn back etc. Theatre experiences also helps people to develop excellent diction, it is a good exercise for the body and the mind, it also helps bring out all the pent up energy that awaits release. Best of all, it allows you to express, to explore, to find yourself, to find that confidence hidden somewhere and to find courage and happiness.
What has courage got to do with standing on a stage? Well actually a lot. It takes courage to face a room full of people and then forget them completely and get absorbed in the act. It takes courage to keep aside the fear of opinions and judgements and just live on that stage in a world that takes you away from the daily grind.
It indirectly teaches us to be confident of ourselves and enjoy what we do. It brings out “Us” and thus becomes one of the best mediums to relax and rejuvenate.
“There is theatre in life, obviously, and there is life in theatre.” _ Charlie Kaufman.
