Staging a milestone

Joy Sengupta and Suchitra Pillai comprise the cast of Dance Like A Man

March 2021 was supposed to be a grand affair for theatre-maker Lillete Dubey, with a month-long festival to celebrate her group, The Primetime Theatre Co's 30th anniversary. With the theatre world still treading cautiously in the wake of the pandemic, the festivities may take off in the latter half of the year. But for now, Dubey and co. are set to make a post-lockdown comeback this weekend with a milestone production hitting 630 shows.

It's exciting for Dubey to be back on stage at Prithvi Theatre after the pandemic-imposed hiatus with Dance Like A Man, a play that's close to her heart, having catapulted her collective into the spotlight back when they were just starting out in the early '90s, she says. The play - written by Mahesh Dattani - has extensively toured the world, with a cast comprising Ananth Mahadevan, Joy Sengupta, Suchitra Pillai and Dubey, who call themselves the "Dance family". Having set up a company to showcase original Indian writing to the world, Dubey recalls hunting for a play that fit the bill, and eventually flying down to Bengaluru to meet Dattani. "At a time when people were only used to "proper" English plays, our idea was to subvert that and speak the language like we do, with all our [vernacular] accents. The day it opened in 1995, is seared in my mind since this was an unconventional story," she tells us.

Ananth Mahadevan and Lillete Dubey

Since then, the tale - which revolves around Jairaj and Ratna, two ageing Bharatanatyam dancers, and their daughter Lata, who is on her way to becoming an established dancer - has won many hearts, from the affection of a teary-eyed Ustad Amjad Ali Khan to a surprise "rave review" in the New York Times. "On the surface it's a comic family drama, but it touches upon so much from gender and generational conflict to relationships and ambitions, packed with drama and humour," Dubey elaborates. Its universal appeal is also possibly the reason that the director is planning a sequel to the production, she reveals.

Dubey, who's steered clear of digital productions in the lockdown, is looking forward to performing live. "My love is theatre, and one of its greatest appeals is that we don't perform in a vacuum. We perform with you, the audience," she signs off.

On February 20 and 21
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Cost Rs 500