have been painted in European art, and these picnics are not just accidental, but a great way of going out into the open. Being out in the open is the most important thing for me I want realism, but I want realism which is in the open, I do not have much interest in what happens within the house. I am interested in the inner man but in the open—where the characters are thrown against each other The picnic does two things—it places people out in the open, yet it does not let them disperse, because they are still together, still 'inside'. In Indian theatre we have two types of drama—one which is trying to be too inward-looking and one which is too socialized, which just refuses to look at anything beyond the skin of the man So, for somebody like me who has seen these two extremes, a play where both things are achieved at one stroke really attracts me. And this coming out into the open while still remaining a play of internal conflicts extends to everything else—to the sets, to the design, to'the behaviour of the characters, to their way of sitting, talking, to the speech patterns, to the voice texture. It gave me a whole range of new ideas —in terms of designing the set for this particular play, iti terms of giving the characters gestures. Scene from The Ascent of Fujiyama