Vivek Vijayakumaran to teach solo acting to aspiring theatre artistes

Bengaluru-based performing arts collective Our Theatre has launched its first online workshop for actors interested in solo performances. Called 'Acting Solo', the month-long workshop will be facilitated by theatre actor-director and artistic director of the group, Vivek Vijayakumaran. The online sessions will be offered in Kannada, Malayalam, English and Hindi.
During the virtual sessions, they are going to touch upon aspects such as ‘believability, authenticity, personalising, organicity, gesture, containment, usage of space, gaze, focus and journey is performance’. These are going to a 10-step workshop, with one-on-one engagement with each participant. Each batch will comprise a maximum of eight participants.
The city theatre collective focuses on actor-training with a vision to create original works and adaptations, the form of which revolves around the actor’s body, movement and voice. The group was established in 2009 with a production of Badal Sircar’s ‘Beyond The land of Hattamala’ in English, Hindi and Kannada. Following this, they produced two original works – ‘Naariyal Paani’ in Hindi and ‘Prelude’ in English and Hindi. With its fourth production ‘Bhima’, Our Theatre found itself at a threshold of change inspired by the immersions it has had in Kanhailalji’s theatre and Kutiyattam. The group aims at creating work where the non-verbal can take centre stage. To keep primary focus on the actor’s bodily presence to create depth, multiple meanings and emotional potency, exploring the aesthetics of minimalism and have live sound/music.
Our Theatre’s latest works include ‘Udo’, ‘Do Machaliyan’ and ‘Pyaade’. These are devised performances created with minimum facilities during the pandemic.