As Jyoti Dogra's THE DOORWAY returns to Gallery Beyond, Mumbai (29th April-2nd May 2010) after its first shows in April 2009, we find ourselves in the presence of a performing artiste, who has attempted to create her own contemporary language of performance based on Grotowski's style of theatre. Through the symbolic doorway, Jyoti Dogra leads us into a world, which is intimately personal and yet universal; all the time dismantling our more familiar ideas about theatre, and the female body in performance. Here, Jyoti speaks at length about her solo show and the journey since she began.
By Deepa Punjani
What first lead you to devise a performance of this kind?
I am interested in Grotowski's work. Working with the body in a manner that is based on impulse than on any particular form. I have had experience earlier with this style of theatre and I developed an affinity with it. I find it more present, feel more consumed by it and the actions don't have to be measured. I can't say that I am an expert on Grotowski but from what I have read and experienced more directly there are some essentials that have stayed with me, and which I continue to explore. There is this constant process of baring and revealing yourself more and more in the hope of getting closer to the truth as an actor. A lot of people mistake this theatre to be something like body movement or intensely physical theatre, but that's not really true. Its more detailed and complex than that.
So here I was exploring the technique more than anything else and then I realized that I had gathered this enormous quantity of material over a period of a year and a half. This was before my first public shows in 2009. I had this material and saw the possibility of a performance, which is when I approached the India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) for institutional support and things began to assume a more distinctive shape.
This is both- a devised performance, and has been a work in progress since your first shows. Did you deliberately intend the work to develop in the course of this last one year?
Yes. As I said, it's more about the interest in the technique and I wanted to be immersed in it on a day to day basis, sometimes working on a sound technique or a particular segment. The technique is like a tool that could begin with a simple movement such as rotating your pelvis, or improvising, or it could be simply about your response to the space you are in. A lot of my work in the past two years has been like this and the support from the IFA made it possible for me to pursue this kind of an in-depth exploration.
Could you elaborate a little more on the day to day process? You also mentioned that you have made notes during the course of your rehearsals.
Well, I might just begin with a movement, and it could be a very simple one, or with just a word. Or I could work for an hour and not say anything at all. I could stretch a sound endlessly or go back and forth on a sequence that has come together. When I begin the next day, the images of the previous day are there. But there are times when I have worked for a good one week and have only been able to come up with three minutes worth of material. I started making notes because I realized that I had to jot down the kind of processes that I went through on a certain day or the things that seemed to stand out. Of course since I began travelling with the performance, most of my notes in the past six months have been production notes. The notes are more of a reference guide.
You have been the creator, director as well the actor of this piece. Were there anxious moments at any point in time? Did you feel the need to seek affirmation from friends, colleagues during the process?
Oh yes, constantly. I would say that had it not been for the trusted opinion of some of my friends and colleagues, this would not have been possible. I am more of an actor than a director, and hence there was always this need to discuss and show my work to my friends from time to time. I had my share of doubts and questions. I used to discuss with my friends things like if I had a good session, how was it that I had not much memory of it, but if there was a bad one I would remember every bit of it. At the same time, there are parts in the piece which I went on to keep even though my friends haven't liked them.
It's perhaps a little more easy to get indulgent with this kind of theatre. Where does one draw the line?
That's true. And therefore, one of the things that must be done is to ask, consult and be open to brutal criticism. I do keep introspecting. I have also been critical about the kind of awed praise I have received from some audience members about certain bits, where they seemed to be more thrilled about my prowess as an actor than on the content. I have done away with those bits because that's not my intention! It is like being on a tight rope all the time and also being a ruthless observer of your own work.
How is the show now different from the earliest ones in 2009?
The stories or the segments are largely the same, but the big difference is in the way I perform them now. Initially I lived in a more inward world as an actor, doing things more for myself than the audience who came to watch it. The audience that I interacted with felt that while a lot was happening to me, they were outside it. But now the audience is like a co-actor and the things I do have assumed a more contradictory force. So when I am sad, it's not as if I appear sad. There are other things going on and it could be sad and beautiful at the same time. There is more tension in that sense, and I realized that after the first shows in Mumbai that while I had a set structure, I didn't want to repeat. You want to look for another meaning and add layers.
In the past one year you have travelled to various parts of India with the show. What have audience reactions been like?
Very welcoming. Although a man in Bhopal was very irked by my blatant display of sexuality and his reaction had the obvious moral tones about how Indian women are not like this. Men and women do see things differently. And these differences can be very stark at times. But by and large positive. A woman in Kerala responded to the sound of Punjabi that I use without knowing what the words meant. Then there was this woman who thought that the entire piece was about an unborn child. We always had discussions post the show and I made sure that there was enough opening up from the audience instead of it just being a Q and A.
How would you best encapsulate your personal as well as artistic journey with the show?
This kind of theatre rips you apart. It puts you together too but you are changed. It's almost like a monster I have grown to love. Sometimes I just don't want to think about it. I even told myself I'll go on a holiday when this is over, but I do also think what will I do without it once it's actually over.
*Deepa Punjani is Editor of this site, a theatre critic and an academic keenly interested in Theatre & Performance Studies.
What first lead you to devise a performance of this kind?
It's perhaps a little more easy to get indulgent with this kind of theatre. Where does one draw the line?
