Allahabad, Sept 02: In a spirit of art for artssake, one of the oldest theatre groups in the country seeks to nurture amateur talent albeit as an eventual launching pad to professionalism.

The philosophy of the theatre group is that being an amateur is "merely a temporary state in a chain of transformation from the novice to the professional," managing
trustee of Three Arts Club, Anuradha Dar told PTI while on a visit here to perform at the prestigious North Central Zone Cultural Centre here.

"In the fast-paced life of present times, art forms like theatre can be preserved only when we respect the fact that things can be done out of love without any monetary considerations. And this is our driving force," Dar said.

"Founded in 1943, the Three Arts Club received a setback with the demise of its founder member R N Kaul in 1983. We are trying to revive the theatre group on the occasion of his 25th death anniversary," she said.

Dar, who is the daughter of Kaul, recently staged the play "Bade Aadmi" here. The play was written by this years Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner Ramesh Mehta, who has been associated with the Delhi-based group for a long time.

She claimed that the theatre group, which had served as a platform for the creatively-inclined government servants in the pre-Independence era, was also a trendsetter in the sense that it had the distinction of bringing female artists on stage for the first time in the country.

"In 1948 the Three Arts Club had staged a play in New Delhi titled `Bhai`, authored by a founder member O P Sharma, wherein late Saroj Bhargava became the first female artist in the country to have performed in a stage play," Dar said.

"This was not the only pioneering effort of the theatre group. On May 11 1961, a series of childrens plays was inaugurated by the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was a new experiment with an all-adult cast which achieved commendable success," she added.

Bureau Report