Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah remember George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw said lsquoAll Irsquom asking for is to have my own way in everything Why should anyone argue with mersquo laughs actor Naseeruddin Shah seated across us on a comfy sofa at his Bandra apartment Shaw would say the strangest things in the most rational manner he adds eyes lighting up at the mention of one of his favourite playwrights Motley Theatre Grouprsquos play Dear Liar an enactment of letters adapted from the correspondence between Shaw and Mrs Patrick Campbell recreates their intriguing relationshipNasseruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah at their Bandra apartment ldquoThe humour is sparkling The characters keep coming out of character to narrate the story These lines were written in the early 20th century but the ideas seem avantgarde even todayrdquo says Ratna PathakShah PicSayyed Sameer AbediWritten by Jerome Kilty and directed by the late Satyadev Dubey the play is improvised and enacted by Shah and his partner on and off stage Ratna PathakShah First performed in 2004 the play is back in the city after a gap of two years Itrsquos Dubeyjirsquos parting gift to us We love and treasure it Itrsquos a bit strenuous to perform because of the amount of speaking so we give it a rest every now and then shares ShahEnglishVinglishDressed in a casual shirt and cream trousers Shah tells us that the English used in the play is one which no one understands these days Dubeyji used to tell us that people donrsquot understand any language thatrsquos well spoken anymore He said you must make a tremendous effort to communicate the meaning of these lines The audience is not used to this kind of sentence structures anymore he explains That is why we have to ensure that the audience is with us otherwise they can find it dreary because itrsquos basically just conversation However we didnrsquot want to modify the language for Dear Liar I didnrsquot have any doubt at all when we were first doing it I felt that if I could understand it anyone can Itrsquos the language that has to be spoken with conviction he adds taking a break to sip from a glass of water checking on the downpour from a large window behind himA scene from Dear Liar performed in 2004Say it like ShawShaw loved words Even his descriptions of characters and places would take the whole page No other playwright does that He said lsquoI write in the same way as the cow gives milk If I didnrsquot write I would diersquo Shah laughs adding that itrsquos Shawrsquos world view that makes him stand out Dubeyji would say lsquoKya tum ShakespeareShakespeare karte rehte ho Ye padhorsquo He said Shaw never writes a story just about a boy and girl falling in love and the difficulties they face Read between the lines and yoursquoll see many layers Shaw has a worldview and Shakespeare doesnrsquot Shakespeare is not acclaimed as the greatest playwright for nothing But itrsquos not an incisive portrayal of anything Othello is not a profound portrayal of a black man in a white society Itrsquos almost a racist play Shawrsquos greatness is his wider vision If he wrote a play about war itrsquos not about the glory of war but about the horrors Unlike Macbeth which is about war but glorifies it he assertsA scene from a performance two years agoPathakShah who is also a fan of the writer adds The way he juxtaposes ideas is fantastic He creates a genuine debate on stage and argues both sides vociferously particularly in the manwoman relationship he strips it down taking all the romanticism out and yet manages to communicate the essence in the most entertaining wayPlaying Patrick CampbellOpinionated and articulate PathakShah is almost as vivacious as the character she plays Shaw called her Stella and she called him Joey the clown She could get away with calling him that Irsquom sure he was a formidable opponent to summon whose leg you couldnrsquot pull easily she laughs She was confident and the bigger star when they first met and was already at the peak of her career She was one of the few actress managers at that time The failing of a person like this is poignant She wasnrsquot aware of the tragedy she was too bombastic to notice what a pathetic figure she cut I didnrsquot understand her at all when we first did the play she addsDown memory laneThe version of the play yoursquoll see this weekend may be different from the one performed in the early days Initially when we did the play our son Imaad who was very young then told us that he didnrsquot like to see us quarrel on stage Shah says with an amused look on his face This made us realise we were arguing far too much Another friend pointed it out as well that these two characters were evolved minds and not teenagers so why so much quarrelling We managed to tone that down and discover more dimensions to the characters he revealsCostume dramaIrsquom still wearing the costume that Mr and Mrs Kendall Sanjana Kapoorrsquos maternal grandparents gave me We saw their production I met them at Shashi saabrsquos house We told them we were doing Dear Liar Mr Geoffrey Kendall gave me his costume and Mrs Jennifer Kendall gave Ratna hers Irsquom still using it including the suspenders which havenrsquot lost their elasticity It was nice sturdy tweed which seems like it will last forever Mrs Kendallrsquos costume was too small she was so petite Itrsquos sad they didnrsquot see us perform Shah says leaning back slightly his gaze distant