All the World’s a Stage……and all of us merely players….is not only a profound but almost a spiritual statement from the celebrated bard and playwright. We don this raiment which is a role/character on stage and which is a life in this world with the express understanding that we shall relinquish it when we are done and move on to don another but while we have this one on, we shall live it to the fullest with our complete being and total awareness. This in fact is the crux of Ank’s understanding and conduction of theatre. We do not become the character we play (on stage), we only present them on stage but while we are with them, we offer them with complete intensity and conviction. And as we go about this play, there are certain rules of the game which are only fair and just –the chappals and shoes that we leave outside when we come in for rehearsal are the egos we dispense with. But the ego is a tough fighter and does not let go that easily and therein lies some of the pain.
"I want to live as many lives as possible in this one birth" seemed a somewhat plausible explanation to family, friends and relatives completely unable to comprehend my increasingly utter absorption with theatre. The real understanding of the words only hit me much later. Fame, learning, money and a door that will open out towards that bigger, better chance is what really brings aspirants to theatre but is not enough to keep them here if these things don’t happen soon enough. Only those who realize that fame, money and learning towards a different end have nothing to do with theatre….…remain. Theatre cannot be the means to any end, it is the end itself.