Full Circle: Greeny Francis on Theatre as Intervention
Images courtesy: Greeny Francis
‘Theatre is a collaborative art form. It has that mongrel quality. We take from everyone, and finding community is key.’ Greeny Francis discusses her calling towards the theatrical arts, crafting immersive and experiential theatre, and stories from the production process.
Varud Gupta’s Full Circle is a regular column that dives into the arts and crafts of India through interviews with specialists around the country, discussing everything from creations to inspirations.
Greeny Francis has long been immersed in theatre. She completed her graduate studies at the National School of Drama (New Delhi) and now teaches at Amity School of Film and Drama. In the midst of this journey, she has experienced a whole host of roles in the theatre scene, from light design, to acting and directing. But where her contributions to the field truly stand out is in her work in experiential or immersive plays, along with the thematic value she brings to her craft.
I interviewed Francis about her calling towards the theatrical arts, experiential theatre, and stories from the production process.
The Chakkar: How would you describe your role today as a creator?
Francis: I was trained in theatre, but I think that many who do more traditional theatre might not agree that is my discipline. I’ve worked in multiple capacities, but that in a way is normal because being a creative in this world means that you are doing a bit of many things.
So, while I might have learned and started in the theatre world, what my work looks like today involves immersion of the audience. Participation through games or workshops embedded into the play. It’s not like theatre theatre. The way I like to see it is as live interventions. I’m intervening with a living audience and performing in real-time.
Theatre is the intervention into their lives.
The Chakkar: What is your background? How did you get started in this field?
What I’m creating is a play almost in disguise of a workshop. Instead of doing these types of exercises and devising with the actors, I’m there doing it with the audiences. Allowing people to experience the actuality of insight. That a body is mine. But as a reflection of Self, that body is also me.
Francis: I started theatre in college with the idea of creating controversy. I think that was the age and mentality I was in at that time. A friend and I started a theater group at Christ University and we decided to do a pre-written stage adaptation called Thank You For Smoking. That title itself was enough to spark controversy.
And it did quite well, not only wining a college level competition but gave us the understanding to feel like we could do this. It was doing that production that taught me that you end up doing a whole lot of ‘other shit’ along with the actual ‘shit’ you need to be doing to pull off a play.
The Chakkar: Give me a little of bit of insight on what that immersion or experience can look like for a production.
Francis: Theatre has different forms. To connect with an audience you can use shock, you can use awe, but for me, I have found that there is no need to over-intellectualise a performance. Audience members don’t need to be given a product. The experience is far more valuable.
For example, Me and Mine, was one concept I had developed but never staged. The idea was to look at our bodies as a repository of literal memories. Moles, scars, haircuts, posture, and habits… they all have a story. Now this is all nice to say, but I wanted my audience to experience that.
So, we divide an audience of fifty into groups, and give them all exercises to do. We start off with a scar. Everyone shows and tells. And what is happening is the mining of an audience of their stories—and thus, their bodies.
What I’m creating is a play almost in disguise of a workshop. Instead of doing these types of exercises and devising with the actors, I’m there doing it with the audiences. Allowing people to experience the actuality of insight. That a body is mine. But as a reflection of Self, that body is also me.
So, the process becomes itself a performance. Every time it is performed to is different because the audience and stories are different. Through fifty people, we end up with fifty stories. A lot more than the traditional narrative of one.
The Chakkar: What exactly does audience immersion offer?
Francis: We move past the fourth wall in storytelling. It is very different than the media as TV shows and even books that we are surrounded by. Being live offers a new space. Face-to-face. When we sit together, we are breathing together, we are living together. That is where theatre exists.
A Case of Clairvoyance or Executing Miss K. Photo courtesy: Greeny Francis
And the immersion of the audience can offer more to these narratives. Theatre breaks down a barrier from medium to consumer. There’s no point trying to compete with the form that cinema can offer, but because there is a less of a barrier between the audience, I like to try to think what we can accomplish on this scale to do more.
When you give an audience a role in the performance itself, you are able to break down perceptions. In those moments, they are no longer how the world sees them. They have become something else.
The Chakkar: What is that process of creation for you?
Francis: I think at the heart of it, I has to be something that genuinely interests me. It can’t be an exercise in self-improvement. It can’t be because I want to be a better person. The absolute first step is in recognising and following pleasure. The other stuff comes later.
Then it has to be a project which allows me to draw insights and inspires me to share those through the work. Inside me, there is a very contrary person that likes to push against norms. So, when I find this thing that interests me, I also start looking at representations. What is the argument that I can push against? To me it feels like an insight to pivot, create, and add dimension to the performance.
My relationship to this has to complicated. It can’t be too straight forward; it can’t just be a happy fun. I don’t know why that is, but a project has to involve both head and heart.
Once I have that core, then you bring people in. Once I have spent enough time in my head thinking about it, it starts with telling friends around me. If they get excited then I feel validated. In these conversations I look for the things that excited them while I’m telling the story. It gives me focus on which aspects to expand.
Then finally I take it to people I consider mentors. People I trust. Then you seek out the collaborators—people who can both feed into and reject the additions—but ultimately realise that you trying to build something bigger. The objective is to put personal feelings aside for the greater good.
The Chakkar: And what happens then?
Francis: Then come the rehearsals. And these are difficult. Because while we’ve talked a lot about that ego and setting it aside, this stage puts that all to the test. In every project, there will be differing circles of investments from the collaborators. It is hard to actualise, and many of these ideologies get tested: What is the commitment, does a dictator rise up, or how do you cope with the reality of people?
There has to be space for all of these considerations. Ultimately, it is reflected in the rehearsal room. For instance, we can’t do a play on mental health when the rehearsal room is a torture chamber.
The Chakkar: And assuming the rehearsals make it fine, how do you approach bringing it into the world?
Francis: Well, in college you have a platform. But now, it is the community that means the most. In Delhi, there are many collectives or collaborations where people will work with you or give you space for low rates. There is a lot of goodwill. The work there as to be a part of a community’s work. It is about relationships and to be helpful to others when you have capacity.
Once a piece of work is out there, it lives in a space of its own. You record it in that space and then seek funding based on those recordings.
The Chakkar: What are some of the different roles you have played in a production, and how do they bring different values to a production?
Francis: When I’m directing, I think of myself as an extremely responsible person. A director is the Chief Coordinator, to make sure everyone is on the same page and working on common goals. Taking in the different voices around them and unifying them. If the director is not great at communicating, then the team does not have a vision. Everything else about a director is negotiable—whether they choose actors, or shape the narratives, etc.
These days other roles are getting a bit blurrier, especially when in a collaboration with others. In a classical play, the light designers should serve the play; they should go unnoticed. If you recognise the lighting, then the designers are showing off. I think that is true for any designers in a play. No one’s role should stick out.
I don’t think of art as this holy thing. Art is just as the people who create it. It is as bad as people, it as good as people. Art serves propaganda the same as it serves inspiration.
Then, as an actor, this can be the most interesting place to be. The performer has an emotional agency, beyond an intellectual one. In fact, it’s hardly intellectual, because one can’t add their own interpretation to a piece. But you find agency in those moments of getting there. How do I arrive there? It is a psychological journey.
The Chakkar: Take me through some of the day-to-day processes of your work.
Francis: During the creation, a lot of the day is spent waiting for inspiration. You are looking away before you can look at. And this part is very important. It its important to not get trapped in only consuming. Create interventions for yourself where what you consume can inspire you.
The Chakkar: And what about when you are actually working on set or in production?
Francis: These days are filled with a lot of different things. This is why I think that health concerns come into the theatre world: because on the rush of set and deadline, time is a thing most lose sight of. Expectations can be high. We give it all because it is our passion, but that is unhealthy. When you are in it, you don’t question it. This often means late nights and hard hours.
But it is also exciting. Everyone is working and thinking. And you are one in such a large team from costume to light to purchasing to carpentry to sound. All these people are attached and bringing in a part of themselves to the performance.
The Chakkar: How has being a Delhi-based performer shaped your work?
Francis: It is true that a lot more of the commercial work is in Bombay. So, I’m speaking from personal experience that Delhi is a lot grittier. Theatre here is almost reflective of that. Even if you book an auditorium, it’s usually seminar hall that is being told it is now a stage.
But these things force experimentation under limited resources. They are opportunities for experiments, real learning through these means effecting the craft and form.
There are so many spheres of Delhi: A Delhi to the immigrants varies from a Delhi to the rich. And culture will always inform how one feels. You have places like Mandi House which can attract a wider audience. Or you have the higher end venues like Oddbird or Habitat Centre. But when ticketing is expensive, it can be restrictive. And thus, the experience becomes exclusive.
When One Walks Out Of Two. Photo Courtesy: Greeny Francis
The Chakkar: Say someone—an outsider—has an idea for a play. How would they enter the theatre scene?
Francis: I don’t have true advice, but I can share what worked for me. It was literally asking for help! You go for a play, and if you like it you reach out. They won’t remember you at first, but then you do it again. And again.
But genuinely, I think it is all about finding that community. Theatre is a collaborative art form. It is a form that takes from everything and everyone. Everyone can do theatre, from an accountant to a shy singer. It has that mongrel quality. We take from everyone, and therefore, finding community is key.
The Chakkar: Ultimately, what do you feel is the role of art in society?
Francis: Sorry if this is glib, but art is the capacity to make people feel like they have done something without doing something. To feel like that cathartic release without seeking action. I don’t think of art as this holy thing. Art is just as the people who create it. It is as bad as people, it as good as people. Art serves propaganda the same as it serves inspiration.
Art is what an artist does to cope with life. By putting all those processes of creation together, the creation of art itself could be akin to a textbook on mental health.
It can also bring people together, to recognise that “Hey, you are like me.” You can experience something from a point of view that you weren’t a part of. It can create belonging. A feeling that you are not alone.
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Varud Gupta is the award-winning author of the graphic novel Chhotu: A Tale of Partition and Love (Comic Con India “Best Writer”) and the travelogue Bhagwaan Ke Pakwaan: Food of the Gods (Gourmand for “Peace”). His words also frequently appear in National Geographic Traveller and Mint Lounge. He received his bachelors in Finance from New York University. You can find him on Twitter: @Varud Gupta and Instagram: @varudgupta.
