Still crazy after all these years

On the eve of the Mumbai premiere of her play Adhe Adhure, theatre veteran Lillete Dubey's mind is buzzing not just with the late Mohan Rakesh's classic but with other projects that are in the pipeline too

Still crazy after all these years

There's an unusual excitement in Lillete Dubey's voice. Having dedicated more than 30 years to theatre, Dubey certainly qualifies for the tag of a theatre veteran but, refreshingly, the years don't rest wearily on her shoulders. A new project still gets her excited like a 20-year-old who is out to prove herself.
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Dr Mohan Agashe and Lillete Dubey in a
still from the play Adhe Adhure

Right now, the enthusiasm is quadrupled because, apart from Mohan Rakesh's Adhe Adhure, Lillete has three major projects planned to keep her busy all the way till 2013.
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"But by then I might think of other things while these plays are on stage. The real excitement is in the creation; that's the real adrenaline rush," she states.

Launching straightaway into a conversation about her first directorial venture with a Hindi play, Lillete claims it does not bother her that innumerable versions of Adhe Adhure have been staged by amateurs and pros.

"Abroad, there are festivals dedicated to revival of classics every year. It's almost like a ritual so that great pieces of literature are never forgotten.

Here, when I talk to young people, particularly those younger than 40, they have not heard of Mohan Rakesh or Adhe Adhure. So the play caters to a whole new generation," she says, adding that the play also holds repeat value for those who've seen the play many, many years ago. For most theatre lovers, watching the formidable

Dr Mohan Agashe on stage is enough of a reason not to miss this classic reproduction.

There's a lot going on with Lillete's Primetime Theatre Company they open another new play based on Tracy Lett's 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner August Osage County in October, and they've got the rights to convert Zohra Sehgal's biography into a play.
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Plans are also afloat to revive their Jesus Christ Superstar-esque production of Mahabharata. August Osage County, also centres on a dysfunctional family, like many of Lillete's earlier plays. "But it's 180 degrees from Adhe Adhure. It's funny, dark and very real," she says.

The play on Zohra Sehgal too has the self-confessed "restless" actor-producer-director keyed up. For anyone who has ever had an encounter with the 99 year-old Sehgal, it's unlikely for her to have not made an ever-lasting impression.

Lillete too was struck by her zest for life when she met Sehgal during the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) ceremony where the nonagenarian received a Lifetime Achievement Award in a wheelchair and she recited her piece Abhi Toh Main Jawan Hoon.
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"It was as if nothing could stop her and she just held forth. I want to grow up and be like Zohra Sehgal," she declares, like a star struck child.u00a0 "For me, the play on Zohra Sehgal is also a way to look at the history of Indian theatre," she adds.

With so much going on with her theatre group, Lillete Dubey looks set to stay on her toes for a long time (like her idol, Sehgal). Watch this space.

On Today, 7.30 pm at Sophia Bhabha Hall, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Cumballa Hill, Breach Candy. Call 23538550

Adhe Adhure
Savitri a middle aged woman, is dissatisfied with her circumstances. She is surrounded by an unemployed son, a promiscuous teenaged daughter and above all a husband who has failed to provide her emotional and financial security. She seeks to fulfil herself in relation-ships outside marriage, only to realise that men are the same beneath different faces. A power-ful and searingly truthful look at marriage, Adhe Adhure explores the themes of fragmentation and incompleteness at the individual, familial and social levels.

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