Mind Your Game

Old man Bobbie is as Brit as can be,until he begins to lose his mind. Suddenly,he begins to speak in Gujarati,the language he spoke as a child in the Bombay of the 1940s. He also begins to talk of incidents,events and instances he’s never mentioned before. Secrets and hidden stories begin to tumble out of his mouth. His family finds itself confronted by a new idea of who he is,and who they are. In Mind Walking,a play about a Parsi man growing old in a foreign land,are rolled together issues of family,identity,Alzheimer’s disease and old age. This Indo-UK venture played to a wide critical acclaim in the UK a few weeks ago,and opens in India today as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival.

The names behind the play are a motley mix brought together by the British Council. Playwright Tanika Gupta is a Bengali scriptwriter from the UK,director John Binnie from Glasgow is Scottish,circus theatre artiste Philippa Vafadar is from England,and actor Peter D’Souza — who came out of retirement to play the role of Bobbie — is Indo-Welsh. “Sometimes,I would look at all of us and wonder,‘how the hell did we get here?’” says Quasar Padamsee,assistant director and producer of the play’s

India tour.

It is not only the storyline that wraps in several layers,the stage treatment also has several folds. Aerial trapeze artistes from Bandbazi,a circus theatre troupe from Brighton in the UK,bring alive the emotionally charged characters. “The aerial hoop of the artistes take on a different meaning altogether,it becomes the doorway into another world,” says Padamsee. As the “story with a big heart”

unfolds,the trapeze artists achieve what a conventional device cannot — it represents a different space and time as Bobbie’s mind drifts from one zone to another.

The play,dealing with the family,has an intimate flavour,and is wisely not being staged in a large auditorium. The 1.20 hour-long play will unfold at the British Council,a compact venue for an intense story.

The play will be staged from November 8-10. Time: 7 pm. Contact: 42199000