Lillete Dubey: 'Theatre teaches you humility, very fast’

In the middle of hectic rehearsals at an Andheri venue for her play Zen Katha and soon after performing Jaya a rock musical version of the Mahabharata for a prestigious theatre festival in Bhopal Lillette Dubey is anything but slowing down ldquoI have to keep doing something and challenge myselfrdquo she replies in response to our query about juggling all of it While she successfully dabbled in designing IndoWestern clothes made AVs for government projects and delivered memorable performances on celluloid she confesses that her heart belongs to the theatreExcerpts from an interviewWhat did theatre mean to you when you started outTheatre is living and breathing It also lives in memory You can record it for documentation but itrsquos not the same as seeing the play and experiencing it That is the beauty and the tragedy of theatre Itrsquos not frozen or perfected in time like the screen I started doing theatre in the first year of college I auditioned for a play that Barry John was directing He is my mentor I did two plays in school too and I felt as if I had tasted blood in the sense that I really really loved theatre and I loved acting I always say I went to Barry Johnrsquos school of drama before he had one He put me through my paces trained and taught me everything I know He gave me the lead roles we did an extraordinary variety of plays including Shakespeare Brecht Dario Fo Tennessee Williams Neil Simon Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter We did at least three productions a year That was my trainingMusic writing theatre and a beautiful dance performance are all elevating They bring you spiritually closer to something that is divine I believe theatre can be spiritual In every character you stand in their shoes It makes you empathetic Even while I was doing my Masterrsquos degree to appease my father at the back of my mind I dreamt of setting up my own theatre company one dayGirija Oak right and Neena Kulkarni extreme right during a stage production of GauharWhy did you want to start Prime TimeI wanted to set up my own company for two reasonsOne was that I wanted to platform Indian writing Itrsquos wonderful to play Martha and Jane but I felt a little alienated I wanted work more rooted in our own ethos And I felt that if we donrsquot do our own stories our own plays who will And second I deliberately chose to do the plays in English because I wanted to take the work across the world as much as I could to show what is being written in India and the productions coming from hereDubey seated looks on during a rehearsal of the play Zen Katha at Kalari Warriors studio Andheri West PicsSayyed Sameer AbediTell us about the early daysI started a company with Sita Raina and we had great fun setting it up together For five years we ran it together We codirected the first one or two plays and then she moved more into the producer and administrative space while I stayed in the creative space of directing We separated our functions and that worked well For the first one or two shows we chose wellknown plays to build an audience and a brand We felt that if we did an unknown Indian play nobody would come So we started with a beautiful play called Blithe Spirit that was a success We also acted in itWe also did a play called The Prisoner of Second Avenue which we renamed The Prisoner of Malabar Hill All we did was adapt the references It was very Indianised Even in the first two plays with English scripts we spoke as we speak I didnrsquot want fake accentsThe director centre in light blue instructs her team of actorsHow did Dance Like A Man happenI reached out to many people including Alyque Padamsee about wanting an Indian script Everyone pointed me towards Mahesh Dattani and said therersquos a new playwright whorsquos very good and that I should approach him So I contacted him and flew down to Bangalore There were no online checks in those days My partner Sita wanted to do Maheshrsquos popular commercial play Where Therersquos a Will but I had read Dance Like a Man She said nobody would be interested in a play about two overthehill Bharatanatyam dancers and she tried hard to dissuade me but I felt it just didnrsquot have the depth that I felt Dance Like a Man had I loved the play It was set in an artistic world nuanced spoke about so many things and was so rich in comparison That play has now travelled across five continents and over 700 shows We also got a glowing review in the New York TimesJoy Sengupta left with Dubey in a scene from the play 30 Days in SeptemberHas there been a production that changed something inside youSeveral For example 30 Days In September changed me deeply I never imagined its impact Women came backstage crying remembering abuse they had never spoken about One young girl even went on to start one of the biggest NGOs working on child sexual abuse I donrsquot do theatre to create change deliberately but when it happens itrsquos extremely movingHow do you know when a script is lsquoPrime Time materialrsquoThe moment I read a play I see it If it doesnrsquot speak to me if it doesnrsquot resonate with me I wonrsquot do it I donrsquot think about what the audience will think The play has to talk to me first I have eclectic taste If you look at my list of plays they are very different from each other I will do Gauhar which is about classical music and a musician and then move to something like an Autobiography a richly layered sophisticated drama with such insight into human relationshipsWhatever the theme of a play it could be anything from Sammy about Gandhi his philosophy and his debates with his alter ego to child sexual abuse in 30 Days in September or to tender stories like Adhe Adhure or Dance Like a Man even within that you can see the themes are wildly differentSuchitra Pillai left and Ananth Mahadevan in a moment from the production of Dance Like A ManIf Prime Time had a personality at 35 how would you describe itIt would be me I have no other producer cowriter or codirector So I guess it reflects me Restless creatively always in search of new mountains to climb new stories to tellYoursquove worked with many collaborators What makes a great oneWhen yoursquore young you think talent is everything As Irsquove grown older the person has become just as important Theatre is collaborative I donrsquot believe in autocratic direction I was trained by Barry John and he allowed actors to discover explore and find their own interpretationsDenzil Smith left and Joy Sengupta in a moment from the play Sammy centred on GandhiAre there moments that make you wonder how you pulled it offItrsquos been 35 years and I have lots of stories Theatre is such an ephemeral form Things can go horribly wrong I once had to cancel a completely soldout musical because the lead actor lost her voice and simply refused to come Back in the day there was no way to call unless you had a landline So when she didnrsquot show up we kept waiting and then called the house Her father very calmly very coolly and casually told us ldquoOh she wonrsquot be coming today Shersquos not feeling wellrdquo None of our pleading helped The house was full people were sitting on the steps and there was nothing we could do It even made the newspaper headlines the next day Theatre teaches you humility very fastHow has Indian theatre changed since you began and how has it stayed the sameThere is more writing now which is wonderful But theatre remains fragile Itrsquos still underfunded and deeply dependent on passionAfter 35 years what keeps you returning to the rehearsal roomThe adrenaline rush the notknowing I feel the clock ticking louder I want to do so many more things As long as Irsquom curious Prime Time will continue Theatre is alive and it can be a brilliant show one night and a terrible one the next That unpredictability excites me Some mad people like us thrive on itMy next play is going to be about Sindh Irsquove always wanted to do a play about the land I come from I want to talk about the Sufi music from there and the songs and stories from Sindh I always want to do something new each time Maybe Irsquoll try and sing in my next play draw out a new skill in myself This is what keeps me going In fact I hope my final moment is while Irsquom still performing on stageWatch the playsThe Prime Time Theatre Company will celebrate their 35th year by performing various plays including 9 Parts Of Desire Autobiography Gauhar Salaam Noni Appa and Dance Like A ManON February 48AT Prithvi Theatre JuhuCALL 26149546ON February 1415AT NCPA Experimental Nariman PointCALL 66223724ON February 28March 1AT Royal Opera House Charni RoadLOG ON TO bookmyshowcom