Watch Out! had a chance to talk with the director and the cast of Dramatics Section’s upcoming play “Hamare Kuch Sawaal Hain”. Here are a few excerpts where they share their experience of staging an online play.

WO: How was the experience of preparing for the play online, different from the offline mode? What were some of the challenges that you faced?
Drams: The process was pretty challenging. It starts from Day 0, many of us are quite naive. We get the script, we get the characters. During the early stages of the play it’s hard to portray characters that are strangers to you but as time passes we really step into their shoes and begin to enjoy the whole experience. Although online mode has problems of its own like internet issues, sound lagging issues, you need to face a camera instead of an audience. Engaging the audience in online mode is a mammoth task. We tried our best and hope the audience likes it.

WO: How does the process of writing a play work offline? How was it different online?
Drams: Last semester we worked on a short film and its script but this play was completely different in its ideation. We conceptualized this idea merely 25 days ago . As we started writing the play, different ideas came into our minds. Scriptwriting is a really challenging part of any drama as we have to decide the energy of the scenes and various dialogue exchanges. Moreover, we have to consider various online constraints. For example, we have to ensure that there are fewer conversations, given that the latency that exists online may ruin those scenes.
Also, this is the first time that the dramatics section has written a script in just 10-12 days, which, in the case of a 40 minute play, is highly difficult.

WO: How have you ensured that the quality of the play remains the same as it used to be on campus?
Drams: We have been practising for the last 10 days. Once our classes end we start practising. We practised for 4-5 hours a day. We put in a lot of effort to ensure that we deliver the same level of energy and emotions as we used to on stage. Apart from the script and our performance, we will also be using various lighting effects to help leave an impact. Lighting plays an important role in defining the mood of the scene and the gravity of the character. We had been using them in our offline plays and we have attempted to use them in this also.
One big advantage of the online mode was that we could use a lot of sound and audio which used to be a constraint in the offline mode. A big thanks to the Audio Section which helped us a lot. We hope that our efforts pay off.

WO: Talking of the Audio Section, how was your collaboration with them? Can we expect such collaborations with any other group in the future?
Drams: All the music included in the play has been composed by members of the Audio Section. The music played a very important role in maintaining the attention of the scene and defining how the scene goes.
In the past, we have collaborated with the Cinematic Section also, when working on the short film “Cornflakes”. These collaborations usually involve both the groups adjusting to each other’s schedules. However, we look forward to such collaborations in the future as well since the resources and time to do everything on our own is quite limited in online mode in comparison to offline mode.

WO: Do you miss the times spent together working on a play and finally pulling it together in front of a live audience? How different is it to stage a play in front of an online audience than an offline audience?
Drams: Yes obviously, there is a stark difference between the offline and online modes. In online mode, you just join a meet, practice and leave. Any element of fun is lost. It’s pretty harsh for the freshers as they don’t get a chance to informally interact with their seniors and gain from their experience. It’s always more fun to annoy the campus people with our loud voices than our family.

WO: This was the first play that the freshers participated in. How was your experience working in this play?
Drams Freshers: Our seniors have guided us very well, despite all challenges. Practising for hours every day, we have learnt a lot while enjoying it as well. This is our first play, albeit online and we would like to make the most of it.

WO: What are you guys working/planning to work on in the future?
Drams: Pata chal jaayega (smiles knowingly).