What
Kyla D’Souza loves the most about theatre in Goa is the audience.
The founder and artistic director of Peas and Carrots Theatre Co., a
theatre company that moved its base from Mumbai to Goa last year,
Kyla feels, “Theatre in Goa is for everyone. The audience here
doesn’t
belong to any
particular class. People from all walks of life here have a liking
for theatre and that’s what I love the most about Goa.”
Kyla,
who started her theatrical journey at the early
age of four,
says that as far as she remembers, she has always been fond of being
on the stage. “It’s the only thing I have ever wanted to do in my
life. When I am on stage, I am home,” she reveals. This brilliant
theatre artiste
is a graduate of the
two-year acting programme at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film
Institute, New York. While in New York, she worked with renowned
people in the field of theatre. She has also acted in a couple of
Shakespearean plays. After
returning to
India, she observed that the quality of theatre abroad was too high
as compared to what we have in the English theatre industry in India.
According to her, our country has just as many talented and
passionate actors as abroad, but we lack on the front of appropriate
training and technique. “I noticed that the scope of English
theatre was limited in India. I have always been a ‘classics’
person. I wanted a company where we could work in the kind of plays,
as I did while in New York. I wanted to stage different plays from
all over the world, with Indian crew working on it. This led to the
foundation of Peas and Carrots Theatre Co.,” explains Kyla.
In
Goa, Kyla designs and conducts theatre workshops for children as well
as adults though Peas and Carrots. Time and again, she also conducts
special workshops at various institutions like International Centre
Goa, Sunaparanta
Goa Centre, Goa Institute of Management,
etc. In these workshops, she strives to share everything about
theatre that she has learnt while studying and working in New York.
Kyla says, “I have closely worked with different International
directors and other theatre professionals abroad. In my workshops, I
merge all these skills and techniques I have picked from different
people and places. I try to give a holistic approach to the theatre
art by blending a variety of styles together. We train everyone,
actors, directors and other crew persons.”
This
ardent lover of theatre decided to move to Goa last year as she
finds, “Goa has a great potential for theatre. There is too much
creativity here. I am originally from Goa, but hadn’t resided here
before. I came back because I was touched by the rawness Goa still
has and inspired by what’s happening here.” When asked about
Goa’s theatre scenario, Kyla honestly admits that she can’t say
much about it as she has just watched one Goan English play until
now. “I don’t know a lot about the English theatre here, but I am
aware that not much is happening. People would definitely like to see
more of English plays,” opines Kyla. “What I have observed is
that,” she adds, “Goan audience is very intelligent and
supportive. They are open to different kinds of theatre and
experimentation. I have enacted two short plays at the Museum of Goa
and the response we received was fabulous. We were sold out for the
first show itself. This kind of response is very motivating.”
In
the end, Kyla expresses, “Our country is so diverse that every part
of it has a different theatre style. Goa, too, has its own unique
style. I wish to work here and explore the maximum of it.”
Kyla
and her crew are currently planning to stage two more plays in Goa.
