Playing it right
Neha Kirpal
Among the many things on Shernaz Patel’s to-do list are finding exciting stories, thinking of interesting ways to tell them and scouting for unconventional venues to showcase the plays created out of the stories. Theatre, like films, is undergoing a change, albeit on a smaller scale. And she, as the new artistic director of Aadyam, is part of it.
Film actor and theatre veteran actress, Patel may be popular for her roles in the films Black and Guzaarish, but she is one of India’s best theatre actors. At Aadyam, an Aditya Birla Group initiative, she is overseeing 42 performances of four new plays to be performed in Mumbai and Delhi. We ask her what does the fourth season have in store... “Each play is very distinctive in style, genre and substance, but what’s special is that they are all Indian stories… something we are all really happy about,” she says. The season opened last month with ace director Atul Kumar’s Detective 9-2-11, a whirlwind of romance, murder and suspense about an ordinary man with an extraordinary story to tell. “It’s a crazy caper, full of music and mayhem and lots of masti. It is set in a time when Mumbai was still Bombay and cinema was still in black and white,” elaborates Patel. The play has an ensemble cast of great theatre talent, including Neil Bhoopalam, Gagan Dev Riar and Sukant Goel. The second, Elephant in the Room, is a funny yet soul-stirring play “geographically set in a tiny village but encompassing the entire universe in its telling”. Directed by Yuki Ellias and written by playwright Sneh Sapru, the play stars Puja Sarup. The third, directed by Saurabh Shukla, is a bittersweet romantic comedy revolving around an octogenarian couple that rediscovers love. The season will end with a mega-musical set in the world of reality TV. Written by Rahul da Cunha and Bugs Bhargava Krishna, the play is directed by Nadir Khan and Rahul da Cunha.
Patel says her priority is to ensure that the plays pieced together at Aadyam are of high standard and the stories are exciting, memorable and brilliantly told. Further, she would like to explore unconventional venues for performance, strengthen theatre for youth and find ways of spreading the magic of theatre among more and more people. “We have booking discounts for students already in place. We have also introduced workshops that audience members can join to make their theatre experience more fulfilling. It’s also an opportunity for them to meet and interact with the team after the show,” she says.
An accomplished theatre actor herself, Patel is currently busy with six plays that she is acting in. “I am also a voiceover artiste and spend a lot of time voicing for corporate films, audio books and commercials. And I will be starting work on two web series soon,” she adds. Her theatre group, Rage, with she manages along with Rajit Kapur and Rahul Da Cunha, celebrated its silver jubilee last year. Rage recently did a project with The Traverse Theatre from Edinburgh. Called Class Act, they taught playwriting to a group of 60 high school students and then staged the plays at Prithvi Theatre. “It was a life-changing experience for the students and a fulfilling one for the three of us,” she says.
As someone who has been around for three decades, Patel feels that Indian theatre is in a beautiful space right now. “More and more young people are creating theatre than ever before. Most of all, I think theatre is finally a stream of its own and is no longer viewed as a stepping stone towards a career in films. With festivals in every corner of the country, theatre can be seen in conventional and alternative spaces, and the audiences are going to both. Further, schools are integrating theatre more seriously in their curriculum. Corporate support for the medium is pushing boundaries and providing incredible opportunities for theatre makers,” she says.
What’s sad among all this is that experimental theatre in all languages faces a harder battle. “It is only Marathi theatre that has always been hugely successful in the commercial space. For Marathi theatre lovers, a visit to the theatre is a family activity. Kids are exposed to it at a very young age. Naturally, as adults, they continue going to watch plays,” she says. Patel feels that if English and Hindi theatre viewing is encouraged by parents, it too could flourish.
