Behind the scenes from The Threepenny Opera, actor and musician Imaad Shah's first directorial effort, which gets staged next month
An oppressive afternoon is no match for a boisterous bunch of actors who have launched into song. Their unfettered voices lift spiritedly above the hustle around them. The Cannon Song is a merry number, one that is best rendered after a couple of rounds of ale or any local brew, but, if you pay attention, the lyrics narrate the disillusionment of grand wars, and the shattering of heroic ideals.
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The cast of The Threepenny Opera in rehearsal at a theatre space in Dadar. Pics/Datta Kumbhar
It's an unusual mix of rhythm and cynicism, just the kind of thing that director Imaad Shah says he was going for. Shah, notoriously famous for his signature afro, looks on at the rehearsal, chorusing along with the cast and jotting down feedback. Later, he tells us that he is nervous, not just because this is his maiden directorial venture, but also because The Threepenny Opera is a formidable play, straight from one of the greatest theatre innovators that the world has known, Bertolt Brecht.
You'd assume that directing a play would be second nature to Shah. After all, the 30-year-old is son to veterans Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, who have earned the distinction of being the first family of theatre in India. But, Shah appears grounded, even if ambitious. Having first read the play in his mid-twenties, he says, "The songs in the play were really my first point of contact. Over the years, they have been performed by some well-known singers, such as Frank Sinatra," says Shah, who, in another avatar, is one half of electro-funk music duo Madboy/Mink.
From left, clockwise: Meher Mistry, Saba Azad, Imaad Shah, 'Bugs' Bhargava and Arunoday Singh
The Threepenny Opera is not all about its songs, however. Co-written by Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann, it premiered in 1928 and reacted to opera as an art form for the elites. It comments on class and economics, with three of the lowliest groups on the social strata - beggars, gangsters and prostitutes - taking it out on the streets with each other.
At the heart of the play, there are fascinating characters who are amoral. There is Mack the Knife, the lord of London's gangsters. Then, there is Jonathan Peachum, the father of Mackie's lover, Polly. Naturally, as love stories go, Jonathan, the king of the beggars, is Mackie's adversary. The actors who bring these characters to life are Arunoday Singh as Mackie, 'Bugs' Bhargava as Peachum, and Meher Mistry as Celia, Peachum's wife. Saba Azad, the other half of Madboy/Mink, plays the role of Polly.
Watching the cast rehearse, we confess that Singh's stature and commandeering voice are a treat to the eyes and ears. The Bollywood actor has recently made his foray into prominent theatre productions, such as The Glass Menagerie. Next, the transformation of Mistry and Bhargava on-stage, as they get into character without the use of props, make-up or costume, will have you charmed. "What could be more creatively challenging than the King of the Beggars, half-mad, philosophical, a Robin Hood of sorts, but not quite," says Bhargava, an actor who gave his voice to King Louie in the Hindi version of The Jungle Book in 2016. However, we have a hunch that the supporting cast, which includes actors Suhas Ahuja, Vivaan Shah (Imaad's younger brother) and Edwin Joseph, is certain to whisk you away into the lowly, but passionate, underbelly of London with their choreographed sequences and songs.
The Threepenny Opera is a production from Motley, the theatre group co-founded by Naseeruddin and Benjamin Gilani. We ask the debutant director if the pressure of living up to the Shah legacy plays on his mind in his new role. He says that his parents have certainly helped fine-tune a thing or two in the play. "The pressure to work with a text like this is anyway present. I use this circumstance to goad myself further," says Shah, as he resumes a chorus.
Where: St. Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra
When: November 10, 7.30 PM; November 11, 4 PM & 7.30 PM
Entry: Rs 300 - Rs 1,250
Call: 26410926
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