A play that blends spectacle, satire

While one of them is a dissident and will not be released until he admits that his statements against the government were caused by an alleged mental disorder, the other is a genuinely disturbed schizophrenic, who believes he is part of an orchestra. Since the play is to be performed with an orchestra, it has been staged only a few times. Guthrie was tempted to revive it since the NCPA has its in-house professional orchestra — the Symphony Orchestra of India.

“When I first moved here in 2019, I had a long conversation with NCPA’s chairman Khushroo N Suntook regarding the kind of show we could do at NCPA’s Jamshed Bhabha Theatre. We wanted to create productions that should be inspirational and entertaining. This play is a rare piece in that sense. It’s multi-genre. It’s funny, moving, and utterly topical and political,” Guthrie says. The 65-minute-long play has two shows each scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. “For a play written 45 years ago to be so relevant today, is phenomenal. It speaks to world politics, not just India. In the UK, for example, freedom of speech and the right to protest is being eroded. You look at what’s going on in America, Russia and China. There is unrest in Europe and the rise of fascism in Italy,” says Guthrie.

The NCPA had initially planned to open this production in November 2020, but the plan was shelved due to the pandemic. Apart from the actors, 45 musicians, six children in a percussion band and dancers are part of the show. The orchestra is like a character in the play and the musicians are on the stage the whole time.