Maneesh Verma Actor [Hindi, English Theatre ] 1. Which is the last best play you saw and why? This question makes me go back in time to my days at the National School of Drama (NSD). The play was a monologue called �Dancing with Dad� and an Israeli actor Itzick Weingarten, who had come to take our acting classes, performed it. It was simply a marvelous performance just because the actor was 40 years old and he played a 14-year-old mentally challenged boy with all the innocence and genuineness required. I literally cried through the performance. 2. Your favourite playwright� Vijay Tendulkar. 3. Your favourite play-character� Hamlet, which I�ll definitely play at some point in my life. 4. A play you would like to see filmed. Why? �Dancing with Dad�- as I said earlier, it�s a monologue of a special child where he is talking about his relationship with his father who is a modern dancer. At the same time, this is the young boy�s effort to communicate with the outer world. There is a lot of scope in the script- the world through the eyes of a special child has its resonance. It is a very simple script but at the same time so complex in its meaning. I myself am working on its screenplay. 5. The most hilarious play you have seen� CHARANDAS CHOR by Habib Tanvir. 6. A play that changed your perception about the theatre� MEDEA MATERIAL by Stephan Shushke. It was the Hindi dramatization of a German poem by Heiner Mueller which in turn concerned the Greek, mythological character, Medea. I did this play at the NSD. 7. How do you regard the Mumbai theatre scene? I don�t want to talk about typical Marathi, Hindi or Gujarati commercial plays; you can call them anything but surely not theatre. I�m more concerned about serious and meaningful theatre. It�s a fact that I�m still very new to Mumbai theatre and I don�t have any right to comment on it but I can gauge that it can improve a lot in terms of quality. Mumbai has lot of talent but somewhere I feel that talent succumbs to commercially viable options. There is a lack of basic belief and honesty which is the first thing required to start off in any creative field. I know that to sustain as a theatre group you have to earn money through your shows but not at the cost of one�s beliefs! I know Mumbai is a commercial city and you can�t ignore the importance of money but as artists we have to strike a balance. 8. Have you read any interesting books/articles concerning the theatre? Why did you find them interesting? �Cinema and Stage� by Balraj Sahni. I came to know very late that Balraj Sahni did a lot of theatre before he did films. This book of his is a pocket book about acting, cinema and theatre. It�s so simple, concise and to the point that you feel enlightened when it comes to reflecting on the art of acting. 9. If you have ever been a part of a theatre production/s, can you recall an event that was insightful, significant or simply humorous? In my second year at the NSD, my batch went to Manipur to Ratan Thiyam�s theatre repertory for a month long workshop. That workshop changed my life forever. Earlier I saw the theatre as a mere stepping-stone to enter the world of cinema but the workshop changed that. The desire to become a superstar in Bollywood became secondary goal and having my own theatre repertory became the primary goal in life. It was one of the turning points in my life. 10. Can you think of a foreign production that you found remarkable? Why? The Irresistible Rise of Arturo Uui. It was a Bertolt Brecht play and performed by his theatre Repertory only (Berlin Ensemble). I saw this play in Delhi. It was in German but there were sub-titles running above the stage. Can you believe that? It was out of this world. It got a 15-minute standing ovation. It�s the best play I have seen so far. I feel fortunate that in this lifetime I got to see it. 11. Your favourite director/actor/music or set designer� Director � Ratan Thiyam. Actor � Naseeruddin Shah. 12. A significant Indian production that you may have witnessed� CHAKARVEHYU by Ratan Thiyam. 13. Life in the theatre without the humble batata-wada or the cutting chai or if you please brownies that are snuggling chocolate bits� or can you recall the best gastronomic experience you�ve had in the precincts of the theatre to date? When I used to work with Act-one Theatre Group, Delhi. There were times when we used to rehearse till morning and used to go to Hanuman Dhaba near ITO to have Dal and Tandoori Roti. After eating Dal Roti, there used to be an �Aao Lete Andolan� meaning everybody used to sleep for an hour. 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