For all the hours spent in theatre seats, most audiences have never truly seen a play. They have seen the result, the lights, the blocking, the dialogue delivered with varying degrees of conviction, but the machinery behind it, the casting anxieties, the fraying nerves, the jugaad that holds an entire production together with little more than ingenuity and desperation, remains largely invisible. Grand Rehearsal, currently running at Mandala Theatre, makes that invisible world its subject,
Grand Rehearsal is directed by Umesh Tamang and written by Tamang and Anup Neupane (known in theatre circles as AJ Bob). The play is a Nepali adaptation of The Play That Goes Wrong, a British comedy written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. While the original pokes fun at theatre in England, this version transplants that chaos into the Nepali theatre, and it works. The struggles feel familiar, the jokes land, and the love for theatre comes through clearly.
As soon as the audience enters the hall, the actors welcome them with activities that are usually done before stepping onto the stage, warm-up games, vocal exercises, and discussions about what comes next. For someone unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes of theatre, the uniqueness of it all begins the moment they step inside.
Laughing through errors
The strength of the play lies in its unpredictable plot and its comedy, which keeps you laughing from beginning to end. The humour lands at just the right moments, and all the actors deliver commendable performances in both dialogue and expression. Their words and expressions clearly reflect what actors, in fact, the entire crew, go through in terms of frustration and disappointment during pre-production.
Rakshya Thapa, playing Inspector Ruja, captures the frustration an actor feels when co-actors require too many takes during rehearsal and when the director does not meet the expectations of the actors. Anup Neupane, playing Milan, a senior theatre artist, effectively illustrates the pros and cons of having a seasoned performer in the cast. Ruja Raut, in the role of Rakshya, demonstrates precisely what overacting looks like, and yet, how it can sometimes be exactly the right kind of acting.
Raja Babu Karki, playing the director, conveys the mounting pressure a director faces when actors underperform, make endless demands, and struggle to hold themselves together in front of an audience.
Shreeshesh Shrestha’s performance as the lighting technician portrays just how disastrous and comic a play can look when the lights fail to deliver, underscoring the often-overlooked importance of the role. The same applies to the sound technician, played by Bal Bahadur Rai.
Tribute to theatre
The performances in Grand Rehearsal, the mistakes the actors make, deliberately and as part of the play, serve as a reminder that behind every perfect performance lie thousands of errors made during rehearsal.
Another compelling element of the production is its setting, a guest room in an apartment, complete with revolving doors, deliberately unruly props, and a balcony that tilts, each adding to the comic texture of the play. Kudos to stage designer Suresh Karki and his team at Tool Engineering.
Based on meta-play, Grand Rehearsal is one such act that not only entertains the audience but also enlightens them about the hard work theatre practitioners put in to make the experience of watching a play truly worth it. It reminds us that beyond the actors, there are many other hands that contribute to making a play worth staging. All the theatre practitioners will closely relate to this play.
The makers of Grand Rehearsal describe it as a tribute to theatre itself, its risks, its magic, and its ability to connect audiences through shared laughter. And there is no denying that.
Grand Rehearsal is, in every sense, a show worth your time, and if you have ever wanted to laugh until your eyes water, this is precisely where you should be.
Grand Rehearsal will run through May 17 at 5:30 PM every day (except Mondays) at Mandala Theatre, Thapagaun. There will be an additional show on Saturdays at 1:30 PM.
