Prateik Babbar essays gay cricketer in adaptation of classic play

(From left) Suhail Sidhwani, Prateik Babbar and Jeff Goldberg

A new play titled 6, based on the play, A Midnight Clear by LB Hamilton tells the story of two lovers - a former IPL cricket star and the wealthy owner of an IPL team. The gay lovers have not seen each other in a year but are thrust together once again after one is brutally attacked and raped. In the course of an evening, they rediscover their love for one another and also why they can never be together. "The original story is set in the 1940s in New York. We wanted to give it an Indian context. We re-wrote the story, setting it in Mumbai and working on the back-stories of the characters, their professions, lifestyle and other small details," shares director and writer Jeff Goldberg.

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(From left) Suhail Sidhwani, Prateik Babbar and Jeff Goldberg

The hour-long play, stars Suhail Sidhwani and Prateik Babbar has been assistant directed by Vishal Handa. "According to the plot, Prateik is hired by the IPL team not for his talent as a cricketer but because the owner of the team believes that his good looks can help sell more products. The two eventually fall in love and part because they can't withstand the pressure of the relationship. The cricketer hasn't felt such attraction to another man before and his sexual orientation comes as a revelation to him," says Goldberg. "All the actors I work with for my productions are people who have trained with me earlier. Suhail is controlled as a performer and holds the audience attention brilliantly. Prateik is more fluid and has a very funny side. Their personalities balance the two characters out brilliantly and makes the chemistry strong," he adds.

Suhail Sidhwani

Goldberg had previously performed a rendition of the play a year ago. "The performance then, pretty much stuck to the original script and was different from this one. I was deeply moved by what happened in Orlando and wanted to re-work the story line and present the play. I believe that love is just love and people should be allowed to just be. We have stayed away from sermons. It's the story of a relationship. It could have been the story of a boy and girl and it would still be the same," shares Goldberg. "It's funny that the play was written in the 1940s, and 76 years later, not much has changed. Hence the original theme we have retained is universal," he adds.

Prateik Babbar

The performance will be staged at the one-and-a-half-year-old Jeff Goldberg studio in Bandra, which offers a black box space, used for teaching method acting and conducting performances.