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Once, a woman in the audience said to me, 'Khoon ka rishta lagta hai tera Savitri ke saath," laughs Sushama Deshpande, as we settle into her living room in Mahim. Telling an actor that she has a blood tie with the character they have portrayed may be dramatic, but in Deshpande's case, it rings true.
<img title="Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel first staged Love Letters in 1993 " src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/love-letters.jpg" alt="Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel first staged Love Letters in 1993 " /> Rajit Kapur and Shernaz Patel first staged Love Letters in 1993&nbsp;
<img title="Today, costumes have changed and Kapur wears a wig" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/love-letters-(1).jpg" alt="Today, costumes have changed and Kapur wears a wig" /> Today, costumes have changed and Kapur wears a wig
<img title="Kumud Mishra in Manav Kaul&rsquo;s Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/shakkar.jpg" alt="Kumud Mishra in Manav Kaul&rsquo;s Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane" /> Kumud Mishra in Manav Kaul&rsquo;s Shakkar Ke Paanch Daane
For 27 years, the theatre director and actor has played the role of Savitribai Phule, a Marathi poet and India's first woman teacher. The 61-year-old recalls how, during a visit to the municipal office for some paper work, the official in charge identified her as Savitribai. "He jumped up from his seat and said with deep respect, 'Welcome Savitribai, please allow me to assist you'. Naturally, the paperwork was done faster than usual," she laughs. But, more than a social perk, Savitri, says Deshpande, is a friend and often, an alternate identity. "When I speak to people, I invariably end up saying, 'You know, Savitri wouldn't do something like this...' or 'Don't judge Savitri by today's feminism rules,' giving the impression that she's somebody who is here in the flesh."
<img title="Mishra says he has to guard against lapsing into monotony" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Mishra-says-he-has-to-guard.jpg" alt="Mishra says he has to guard against lapsing into monotony" /> Mishra says he has to guard against lapsing into monotony
<img title="Sushama Deshpande first played Savitribai at age 30" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Savvy.jpg" alt="Sushama Deshpande first played Savitribai at age 30" /> Sushama Deshpande first played Savitribai at age 30
<img title="To combat short attention spans, the play is now for 60 mins" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/savitri-recent.jpg" alt="To combat short attention spans, the play is now for 60 mins" /> To combat short attention spans, the play is now for 60 mins
Deshpande's Vhay Mi Savitribai, which she has written and directed, opened on January 3 (Savitri Phule's birth anniversary), 1989, in Pune, at a show organised by Nari Sammata, a group of staunch feminists.&nbsp;When she started, Deshpande didn't imagine that the play would cross 3,000 performances. Rarely does an actor think she will end up with the same role for over a decade, yet there are many examples. Satish Kaushik, who played Salesman Ramlal in the Indian version of Arthur Miller's 1949 play, Death of a Salesman, for 13 years, returned to theatre this month after a three-year break with a comic role as Mr Murarilal. "Salesman Ramlal," he told this paper in an earlier interview, was too intense.
<img title="Sushama Deshpande was 30 years old when she first went on stage as Savitribai. The play follows the life of the social reformer from childhood to her death" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Sushama-Deshpande-was-30-ye.jpg" alt="Sushama Deshpande was 30 years old when she first went on stage as Savitribai. The play follows the life of the social reformer from childhood to her death" /> Sushama Deshpande was 30 years old when she first went on stage as Savitribai. The play follows the life of the social reformer from childhood to her death
What happens when an actor reprises the same role for over a decade?&nbsp;
Age waits for no one&nbsp; The most obvious changes of course, are in the body. Shernaz Patel, who still reprises her role of Melissa Gardner, in Rage Productions' Love Letters, 23 years after the first performance, says the costumes for her and co-actor Rajit Kapur (who plays Andrew Makepeace Ladd III) have had to be redone. "Rajju has a wig now because he has gone bald,"&nbsp;she adds.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Vagina-Monologues_2.jpg" alt="" /> Directed by Rahul da Cunha, the play is an adaptation of the 1988 AR Gurney play. It follows the lives of Andy and Melissa, who over 50 years, exchange letters. That the play provides a range of ages for the actors to relate to helps.
"When you're in your 20s and playing 45, you don't understand 45. Now that I have crossed 45, I understand what it is," adds Patel, now 51.
<img title="First staged in 2003 at Juhu&rsquo;s Prithvi Theatre, Vagina Monologues has completed over 1,000 shows, including in Hindi " src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/First-staged-in-2003-at-Juh.jpg" alt="First staged in 2003 at Juhu&rsquo;s Prithvi Theatre, Vagina Monologues has completed over 1,000 shows, including in Hindi " /> First staged in 2003 at Juhu&rsquo;s Prithvi Theatre, Vagina Monologues has completed over 1,000 shows, including in Hindi &nbsp; Kapur, 56, says that over the years, how they related to their role has changed. "Earlier, we'd be able to relate more to the characters during the first half when they were between the ages of 12 and 20. Now, we are more comfortable in the second half."
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Love-Letters123.jpg" alt="" />
An actor's challenge When actor Kumud Mishra first heard of playwright and director Manav Kaul's Shakkar Ke Paanch Dane, it was a mere idea. "Mujhe yeh bahut adbhut laga," he says of the monologue in which he, as Rajkumar, a resident of a nondescript village, talks of the five people who have added flavour to his life. Mishra was attracted by the non-linear aspect of the story.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Class-of-84_b.jpg" alt="" />
But, in the 14 years of performing the role (Kaul doesn't have a count of the number of shows they have done), the National School of Drama graduate says there have been days when he has told Kaul that he can't do any more shows. "While experience does give new meaning to text, at times, I have caught myself operating from memory, which is not right. Sometimes, I would compare a performance to what I would do at the start and realised that I was trying to relive the rhythm that I had 10 years ago. This is when your act falls flat. It happens when you don't trust the text," the 47-year-old adds.
<img title="First staged in 2003, Class of &rsquo;84, written and directed by Rahul da Cunha, has an ensemble cast of eight characters, all of whom are on stage at all times" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/Class-of-84.jpg" alt="First staged in 2003, Class of &rsquo;84, written and directed by Rahul da Cunha, has an ensemble cast of eight characters, all of whom are on stage at all times" /> First staged in 2003, Class of &rsquo;84, written and directed by Rahul da Cunha, has an ensemble cast of eight characters, all of whom are on stage at all times
Sometimes, the character grows with you, says Sohrab Ardeshir who, along with Patel and Kapur, is part of the ensemble cast of Class of '84, another Rage Production. The play, which was first staged in 2003, touched the 350-show mark this year. Ardeshir plays Cyrus Cooper, a man he describes as a charsi, albeit a sophisticated one. "The character evolves as you grow. Now, Cyrus is more laidback, more comfortable in his skin and stands up for himself more," says the 54-year-old.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/jul/24Shakkar12.jpg" alt="" />
We have to ask, after all these years, do they still need to rehearse before a show? The answer is a unanimous yes. Mishra says he religiously reads the text at least eight times before getting on stage and goes over his stage movements once at least. "If there's any hesitation, the audience picks it up immediately," he adds. Patel adds, "The great thing is because we have done it for years, you're not at all concerned if you're in character or not. She [Melissa] is just a part of me."
Then and now But, it's not just costumes and fatigue that need to be considered when a play is being staged for over a decade. Language, context and audience behaviour also become an issue. Over the years, Deshpande has shortened the length of the play from 2 hours 10 minutes to an hour. "These days, people have low attention spans."
Da Cunha talks of a particular line in Class of '84 that has been debated often. "Someone is playing Budha Bar music and Ardeshir's character asks what is Buddha Bar, and someone responds 'it's Buddha's favourite music compositions'. The first time it was staged, Buddha Bar was huge, but now, 14 years later, it is obsolete. But, do you change it?" he asks.
"We took a call to not change it in order to make the script more today. After all, there have been plays written in the 1970s that have not been adapted to modern times."
Actor and counsellor Journalism students of 2002 from a south Mumbai college will remember a meeting with Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal who at the time, just ahead of the first show of Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues, promising the most explosive show ever with words "you've never heard in public". Fourteen years on, 'vagina' is no longer a taboo word. "If my only contribution to the world is that women shout out the word 'vagina' freely, I will be happy," says Mody-Kotwal, who has produced, directed and acted in the play.
She and actor Dolly Thakore recount the numerous times people come up to them after a show and recount stories of abuse. "Once, a girl in the audience fainted during the monologue of the Bosnian rape victim. After the show was over, in between sobs, she recounted how she had witnessed her sister being sexually violated by her uncle," Thakore recounts. Mody-Kotwal says now women reach out to her either after a show or on Facebook.
Often she ends up playing counsellor. "The one thing I tell women in bad marriages is to not wait too long to walk out. And, to educate their daughters so that they don't suffer the same trauma and can fend for themselves," she adds. The stories do hurt. "When you come home you are upset, but then you think of how the women who are actually suffering cope with it," she adds.
A new generation What the actors find encouraging is when a new generation relates to their work. Ardeshir talks of teenagers who saw the first show of Class of '84 and then returned a decade later to share their stories of lost friendships.&nbsp;Deshpande also feels a sense of social responsibility while performing Savitribai. Some women who attended the initial performance, she says, have sent their daughters to watch the show in recent times. "Their refrain is, 'I wasn't allowed to study, but I hope my daughter will. Maybe they will learn something from Savitri.' That makes everything worth the effort."

Does a stage role have a shelf life? Theatre actors speak of the challenges, both physical and emotional, of reprising the same role for more than a decade

Theatre actors talk about the challenges of reprising same role for a decade

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Home / Sunday-mid-day / Article / Theatre actors talk about the challenges of reprising same role for a decade

Theatre actors talk about the challenges of reprising same role for a decade

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