Actors, singers and recitors wait with bated breath for their turn. This time, they are not backstage, but at home, and they face laptops or cellphones propped on boxes, books or tripods. Dialogues, songs and recitations flow, items change and an audience, ranging from a 100 to 200, from across the country, watches with rapt attention.

In a Covid-19 world where performances have been forced to migrate online to survive, live theatre, singing and recitation have found creative ways to adapt, and an association of theatre activists-Siliguri Theatre Adda–formed from among members of some of the most active theatre groups in Siliguri, has taken it to an incredible and unprecedented level during the coronavirus pandemic.

The association headed by one of the senior most members of the Siliguri Ingit Drama Association and a retired employee of the Jalpaiguri Doordarshan Kendra, Ananda Bhattacharjee, has been holding a regular and virtual programme of songs, plays and recitations every evening since March 28 last year.

“When the pandemic broke out in 2020 and lockdown was imposed on March 23, many theatre outfits across the world shifted from stage to virtual platforms to keep the art alive. We took it a step further and decided not only to opt for a tech-friendly live reading or monologue, but to create a platform to bring performers of different art forms related to theatre under one virtual roof. We decided to go the extra mile to organize online debates and discussions on various aspects of theatre and challenges faced by this dwindling art form as well as present tele-plays from time to time,” said Mr Bhattacharjee.

The ace theatre activist, who is now the coordinator of the association, said that their programme, which began as a small “online adda” from 8.30 pm to 11.30 pm every evening, has today grown into a firstits-kind virtual stage in the world, where a large number of performers, including  110 top artistes from India and Bangladesh, took part during the past 430 days.

“We began by sharing our individual experiences on theatre and discussed ways of promoting the art among the young people in north Bengal. Our first major venture was a tele-play, “Achena Ami,” which won an official selection at the We Feel Online Short Film Festival 2020 – a free festival of short fiction movies organized from Siliguri in the first week of July 2020. The play was directed by Kuntal Ghosh of Siliguri Theatre Academy,” he said.

Mr Bhattacharjee pointed out that their online programmes were held regularly despite various challenges during the pandemic period. “We did not stop our programme for a single day. Not even when I lost my father and uncle to Covid within a span of just 11 days in November 2020 or when many of our members and performers suffered huge personal losses due to the pandemic. We held the programme every evening, even when the pandemic touched the all-time weekly low of 11, 145 cases in the first week of February this year. Our main motto was: the show must go on,” said the veteran thespian.

Besides organizing programmes without any break for a record 15 months on the trot, the association also took upon itself the onus of providing all-round relief to the millions of people affected in one way or the other during the pandemic.

“To provide psychological succor to those suffering from stress, anxiety and depression due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we organized special items during our daily adda sessions on every 50th day of our programme as well as on the birth and death anniversaries of great poets, theatre personalities and doyens of various art forms.

“Though we do not charge any membership fee and have no source of income, we provided free food stuff to three casual workers of Dinabandhu Mancha in Siliguri for a fortnight and donated Rs 5000 to the one-of-its-kind natya gram of famous theatre personality of Orissa, Mr Subodh Patnaik, whose artistes and technicians were reeling in abject poverty due to the lockdown in May 17 last year. We also contributed Rs 5000 to the Amphan relief fund of the Banga Natya Sanghati in Kolkata on June 9 last year,” Mr Bhattacharjee said.

The 62-year-old actor signed off by saying that their main aim now was to develop the STA into an organization where theatre activists of the entire country would join hands for their own welfare and the welfare of the age-old art form.

“Currently, there are members of 11 top theatre organizations of Siliguri in our association. We hope to associate more theatre groups with us in the future. Our main aim is to expand the platform to include theatre actors, technicians, activists and people related to this art form in different ways in an effort to protect, preserve, promote and popularize theatre in India,” he said.