Chasing Miss Blossom

Besides House,the 70-minute play has three Indian directors acting in it as well. “It’s a crazy play about ‘play’,and in this case,it means manipulation,” says Smita Bharti,a Delhi-based theatreperson,who has adapted the script of Australian play Miss Blossom Callahan to suit the Indian context,which is now called Miss Blossom Callahan Patialewaali. This would be the play’s first-ever show in India. “Even though it’s an Australian play set in an Indian context,we didn’t have to change much because portraying human behaviour and its ugly side is a universal theme,” adds Bharti,who plays the lead role.

The other two Indian directors,Ishwar Shunya and Sonali Sharma,are playing the roles of a drug addict and the landlady of the building where Patialewaali lives,respectively. “Though the theme of the play is universal,there are some cultural differences which we took care of. The language,for instance,is not just English but Hindi and Punjabi,too,as Miss Blossom interacts with other people. Another difficult part was to rewrite the script in Hindi,” says House,who plays the role of Max,Patialewaali’s westerner beau,adding,“Initially,one of the questions I’d asked was,is there a woman like Miss Blossom in India? I now know that this woman fits in India and is here to stay.”

Miss Blossom Callahan Patialewaali will be staged at Epicentre,Gurgaon,on September 1,and India Habitat Centre,Lodhi Road,on September 2,at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available at the venues.