The Museum Theatre in Madras, Prithvi in Bombay, and Adishakti in Pondicherry.
Your favourite playwright?
It is nigh impossible to pick any one favourite playwright, or character, or anything for that matter. Playwrights whose work has always inspired me include Shakespeare, Steven Berkoff, Anouilh, Tendulkar, Ted Hughes, David Campton, Donald Margulies, Seneca, Euripides, so many...
Your favourite play-character
Again – quite impossible to pick one. But Coriolanus, Medea, Champa (from Vijay Tendulkar's SAKHARAM BINDER), Richard III, Antigone, Claudius, Louis de Rougemont, Rochester, are all favourites.
A play you would like to see filmed. Why?
THE SUPPLIANTS by Euripides (not the one by Aeschylus). In many ways, THE SUPPLIANTS is an important allegory for many wars in modern history – from America's presence in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, or India's presence in Sri Lanka during the 80s.
A novel/short story you would like to see on stage? Why?
'I, Ramaseshan' by the Tamil writer Aadhavan. I've done an audio book of this work and have always felt that it would be an important play to stage. It's a funny, audacious, irreverent and very poignant story of a young man coming of age.
The most hilarious play you have seen.
AN IDEAL HUSBAND by Oscar Wilde. The funniest I have read (and which has not been performed in living memory) is PADATADITAKAM by Shyamalika – a Sanskrit bhana play.
A play which is over-hyped.
Peter Brook's MAHABHARATA comes to mind, but there are hundreds of productions that fit that description.
An important play (but ignored).
Not just a play, but theatre itself. The tragedy of theatre in India is that what was arguably the most celebrated and potent theatrical form through the Indian performing arts history – Bhana – has no place in the modern world. The apathy towards Bhana is so terrible that there are no translated scripts (perhaps not even original ones) in any library of drama in India, let along research or performances. I have been trying to interest Sanskrit scholars and writers and other 'custodians of culture' in reviving Bhana for the past two decades but there is simply no interest. I believe this is largely because Bhana plays will shatter the myopic, rose-tinted glasses through which most modern Indians view our past.
A play character you would like to ''dialogue'' with...
Creon.
A passage from an important play that you can recite.
Much of Shakespeare, a great deal of Creon from Anouilh's ANTIGONE, a lot from the Ted Hughes translation of Seneca's OEDIPUS, little bits from all the roles I've played and directed. I can think of over a hundred. When you've immersed yourself in a part, bits of it never leave you.
A classical play that you should have read.
Many Bhana plays – but I can find almost no scripts or translations. It is unfortunate that most Bhana manuscripts are probably lost to time, and may never be read (or staged) again.
A play that changed your perception about the theatre.
Seneca's Oedipus.
How do you regard the Mumbai theatre scene?
It's very sad. I cannot help but feel that theatre is dying out, largely because of the lack of performing spaces and support, and also because of a diminishing audience.
Have you read any interesting books/articles concerning the theatre? Why did you find them interesting?
Artaud's 'The Theatre and it's Double; 'Keith Johnstone's 'Improv; ' Meisner's 'On Acting,' so many....
If you have ever been a part of a theatre production/s, can you recall an event that was insightful, significant or simply humorous?
Almost 25 years ago, I actually did break a leg, and ended up performing with it in a movement play called BRAHMA'S HAIR. By the end of the show, my leg was soaked in blood. Ever since then, whenever someone screams 'break a leg' at me, I think unholy thoughts.
Can you think of a foreign production that you found remarkable? Why?
Again, so many. But the work of Pina Bausch, Footsbarn and Peter Brook spring to mind.
Your favourite director/actor/music or set designer.
Khalid Tyabji. FOOLSONG is the most incredible work I have seen in India. Also, the work of Badal Sircar and Veenapani Chawla.
A significant Indian production that you may have witnessed.
As I mentioned- watching Khalid's FOOLSONG changed my life, and not merely my perceptions and ideas about the theatre, as did working with him.
Life in the theatre without the humble batata-wada or the cutting chai... or can you recall the best gastronomic experience you've had in the precincts of the theatre to date?
For me it's the chicken and cheese sandwiches at the NCPA. So many of my early theatre performance and rehearsal memories are linked to those sandwiches! The other was doing a play called FOUR SEASONS, where we made apple pie on stage."
Deesh Mariwala
Your favourite 'adda' to see a play
