A play to remember

Lillete Dubey cited exhaustion and excitement as the emotions running through her mind as her play Dance Like A Man completes 450 shows this weekend The widely acclaimed play which has been running for 18 years has toured cities across India and in the UK US Europe Indonesia and South Africa Produced under Dubeyrsquos banner The Primetime Theatre Co and directed by Dubey herself the play is based on Mahesh Dattanirsquos script It tells the story of Jairaj and Ratna two Bharatanatyam dancers past their prime contrasted with stories of their daughter Lata who is on the brink of establishing herself as a brilliant dancer Lillete Dubey plays Ratna and Vijay Crishna essays the role of Jairaj in Dance Like A Man Stage the original Dubey admits that she started The Primetime Theatre Co in the 1990s with an intention of choosing and staging original Indian plays ldquoTill then most of the plays featured works by Shakespeare and Bertolt Brecht which anyway had a lot of diverse interpretations abroad But we wanted to find an original Indian voice and pit them against othersrdquo she says adding that they never expected the play to be so successful ldquoWe have staged so many plays over the years and yet everywhere we went people would ask us to restage Dance Like A Man It has become a part of living theatre legend it has developed a life of its own and a mysterious balance of music dance and drama which has helped it survive over so many years In fact over the years we have been staging it every six monthsor sordquo Suchitra Pillai and Joy Sengupta who play the role of a young couple in the play Universe and India Back in 1996 one of the criteria Dubey had in mind while selecting the play was that it had to have a universal connect Despite apprehensions she says ldquoWe realised we had succeeded when we found people across the world laughing at the same parts they got the humour which was amazing In some countries the play was their first exposure to Indian theatrerdquo The play also made for a pioneering attempt to stage original Indian writing which is now a common feature in todayrsquos theatre circuit ldquoIn those days there was hardly anything available in Indian English We were actually taking a risk by staging an untested play which was not an outandout comedy and moving out of the comfort zonerdquo she rues Dubey remarks that over the years the play has remained virtually the same with minor changes at times in the cast of the play ldquoWe the actors joke that the play will continue in perpetuity as our children will take over our roles somedayrdquo jokes Dubey u00a0Not ready to sit on her laurels Dubey next hopes that she can take the show to places yet to be visited including China Russia and Japanu00a0 Down Memory Lane One of the most memorable stagings of the play admits Dubey was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a decade ago Their performance at a chapel was preceded by a Russian ballet act which required the actors to strip at the end of the performance ldquoIt was early in the morning all the actors were thoroughly distracted and the hilarious image of the nude performers clearing the confetti they had strewn on the stage will stay with me foreverrdquou00a0she laughs On April 6 7 pmu00a0 At Tata Theatre NCPA Nariman Pointu00a0 Call 66223737u00a0 Also watch An evening of Lal Ded a play and film by Meeta Vasisht delves on the celebrated mystic poet of 14th century Kashmir the iconic Lal Ded who continues to be the shared archetype for all Kashmiris Hindu and Muslim from 700 years ago up to the present day On April 2 and 3 8 pmu00a0 At Prithvi Theatre Juhu Church Road Juhu Call 26149546 u00a0