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Jaimini Pathak
I face the unenviable task of having to write something on the theatre which is not a critique, which does not pan or praise, does not create (hopefully) controversy and still makes good copy. But then, being an actor who has been around for a while, I happen to be in the privileged position of possessing certain juicy nuggets of information which are passed around only among those on the inside, by word of mouth -- the kind of stuff that is recounted amidst roars of laughter after the third drink has been downed.So, here's to the theatre!
One of the most celebrated rivalries in theatre, in recent times, has been between Sir John Gielgud and Sir Lawrence Olivier. Gielgud, being the established star when Olivier burst upon the scene, was acknowledged as the finest speaker of Shakespearean verse in his time. He once described his style of Shakespearean theatre as one in which even a blind man could really appreciate every nuance of his art. The young and brash Olivier not to be out done described his style oftheatre as one in which Shakespearean plays would be perfectly intelligible even to a deaf man.
Incidents abound of the biggest of stars engaging in bouts of one-upmanship. Olivier was once physically suspended in the arms of his contemporary Ralph Richardson over a balcony 50 ft in the air in a Paris hotel. Apparently, Olivier had struck a deal that if Richardson allowed him to have the last show of a run of their plays, at a festival in London, he would go on first when the festival went to Paris. Little did Richardson realise that while in England the person to go on last received top billing, in Paris, it was exactly the opposite the one to go on first was the star!
But let us not dwell only on such willful acts of sabotage. There is a flipside to all this the courteous goof-ups, gaffes, misunderstandings, and happy mistakes that happen during performances and that are recounted fondly for years to come. I will stick to the ones that I have heard of or witnessed in the playhouses of AmchiMumbai. It is, no doubt a lop-sided list, since it does not include the Marathi and Gujarati stage, but then, that's natural for many more stories.
The fact that even the most seasoned performers are sometimes fallible was borne out during a show of Benjamin Gilani's Waiting for Godot. Tom Alter and Roshan Tarneja were playing Lucky and Pozzo, respectively. Lucky has only one rambling monologue in the play which he can deliver only if he is wearing his hat. The stage is set.
Enter Lucky, the slave, with a long rope around his neck, followed by his master Pozzo. Panic out-stage as Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani (playing the two tramps) notice the absence of the hat.
Nasir and Benji somehow manage to get hold of the missing hat (improvising during the performance) and place it on stage.
Tom, immensely relieved, continues to move toward the hat.
Tarneja, who has been oblivious of the absence of the hat, notices through the corner of his eye, a furtive movement on his slave's part.
Tomcontinues to move toward the hat.
The rope contrives to get between Tom's legs. Tarneja, by now totally immersed in his character as the slave-master, gives aforesaid rope a hard yank.
A visibly agonised Tom draws on his vast cricketing experience and makes a mental note to add a piece of cricketing equipment worn between the legs of his costume.
During another performance of the same play, all the existential angst of the two tramps waiting for a Mr Godot (who never comes) was brought to the ground with a loud thud when Tarneja, instead of saying, "I am Pozzo" (which incidentally was his first line in the play), announced proudly, "I am GODOT!"
Actors are known to improvise on stage during a performance. A young and raw Joy Fernandes, however broke out in a cold sweat during a performance of R Ramanathan's Krapp's Last Tape (Beckett again, God rest his soul) when his co-actor Shiv Subramanium decided to improvise a 10-minute silence on stage. Yes, a full 10 minutes!
The scenario:
Jay(sweating profusely, to himself): "Why the hell doesn't he take his line?"
Shiv (also to himself): "Why the hell doesn't he take his line?"
A member of the audience, who claimed he had seen performances of this particular play all over the world, later congratulated the director on his "brilliant interpretation of Beckett, particularly the 10-minute silence."Toni Patel's A Merchant of Venice had a moment of unexpected hilarity when Asif Basra playing Graciano, made his entry and announced grandly, "We have not made good preparation", and turned around for affirmation from his companion only to find himself alone on stage. Asif sweats it out, makes an undignified exit and angrily confronts Anirban Roy (the missing actor) in the wings.
Asif: What happened? You were right behind me in the wings! Why didn't you take your entry?" Anirban (dreamy): Well... it didn't happen."
Asif: "I know it didn't happen, damn it. What didn't happen?"
Anirban (dreamier): "I justcouldn't do it ... it didn't feel right."
Asif (by now infuriated): "WHAT??!"
Anirban (dreamiest): "You see ...I lost the moment."
A performance of Salim Ghouse's Hamlet too was tinged with an unexpected element of bathos when Salim, after having bawled out his actors backstage for not concentrating on their performances, allegedly went onstage as Hamlet and proclaimed tragically, "The cats will moo and the dog will have his day."
The incident that must surely qualify as the most absurd happened during a performance of Satyadev Dubey's Sambhog Se Sanyas Tak. The all important court scene, in which all the members of the king's court hold forth with their views on ethicality, morality, sensuality, virginity, fidelity (and any other `ities' you can think of), was brought to an abrupt standstill when the actors onstage realised that there was a new, unaccounted-for member in the king's court.
The chaiwallah, who had been instructed during rehearsals to quietly servetea to the actors and go away, proceeded to do exactly that without bothering to go into the subtle distinctions between a rehearsal and a running show before a packed house!
Jaimini Pathak is a theatre actor
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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