Late seventies. Darkness sweeps the land. It rained all night. The Batman had to go back to his cave in Gotham city. The radio receiver was sending dizzy signals to Spiderman. Then as dawn folds up the Wizards knew something had to be done; gathering what power they had to create a child of pure awesomeness. While this dashing and witty man is not saving the world or performing improv, he works at his day job to survive and pay bills.
I started my career as an actor, later moved into producing, applied theatre and education. I’m a first-generation immigrant to Australia, and has been actively involved within Australian theatre for more than 20 years. I’m the founder, Artistic Director and Management Committee Member of Nautanki Theatre, a company fearless in diverse storytelling, connecting the South Asian diaspora with art and building community capacity. I’m multilingual and can read, write and speak English, Bengali and Hindi. I also have working knowledge of regional Indian languages Urdu, Marathi Punjabi, Oriya and Assamese.
My theatre practice is motivated by Tagore and Boal. I’m influenced by Joyraj Bhattacharjee with whom I’ve collaborated 3 times in the last decade.
Recently I’ve completed a summer school jointly offered by IIAS/LASALLE In Situ Graduate School (ISGS) hosted by KUNCI Study Forum and Collective, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
My research interest and artivism includes:
- Connecting diverse and marginalised diaspora with arts using intercultural theatre practices and methodologies in Australia’s multicultural society.
- Cultural nuances of theatre in a multicultural society like Australia.
- Contribution of Independent, Avant-Garde & community-based theatre to multicultural Australian society.
- Counter-cultural discourse and cultural mapping on Australian stages.
I write regularly on social media, blogs and various theatre journals. I have formed a theatre review website Rasaart which provides a much-needed platform for independent theatres in Sydney to critically analyses performances and provide general commentary.
My work in Australian theatre has been digitally archived at the NSW State Library.
Neel Banerjee 