The cast and director of critically acclaimed English play, Constellations, talk to mid-day about getting into character, love across universes and the “intense” moments
Aahana Kumra and Kunaal Roy Kapur play the protagonists in the rerun of David Payne’s Constellations at the NCPA. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Aahana Kumra and Kunaal Roy Kapur are in the thick of rehearsals when we drop in on them at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). “I’m sitting down,” Kumra says as she lowers herself to the floor. “I’ve been on my feet for too long today.” Within minutes, Kapur and this writer, too, are comfortable on the floor like true blue desis and the interview is underway.
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We ask about their rehearsals and they mention they’re in their third week. And that’s when it hits them—only one more week of rehearsals remaining. For one endearing moment, we see the filters drop as both actors exchange looks that speak of pre-event jitters.
Bruce Guthrie Director
The old friends are preparing for Constellations, an award-winning play by Nick Payne that returns to the NCPA this month after two successful runs in 2018 and 2019. It traces the journey of the protagonists, Roland and Marianne, as different versions of them meet each other in different universes, raising the question of whether free will truly exists, or if it all comes down to probability.
“It’s the use of this scientific question—destiny or science—to tell the story that I found very interesting,” says Kapur. “Especially because now, the multiverse is not just sci-fi but an actual possibility that scientists are investigating.” Kumra adds, “For me, it was the fact that there are certain things beyond your control and certain things you get to decide, and where you are is the sum total of both these things. And the way Payne has handled the whole premises of two people meeting across a multiverse.”
She finishes her sentence just as director Bruce Guthrie walks in and settles down on the floor beside us (Kumra gleefully greets him as, “Bruce Almighty”). Kapur adds that he also loves the character he’s playing—a beekeeper. “Some day, I really would like to have bees. But what I love more than that is that he is so sensitive. I relate to Roland’s empathy a lot,” he says.
While for Kumra, it is the dichotomy of Marianne’s character vis-a-vis her own personality. “She’s this person who’s not really comfortable around too many people,” she says, “which is the exact opposite of who I am. But also, at some point, I pull up my wall. And she’s someone who knows exactly what she wants, which I relate with. Maybe in some universe, I am Marrianne.”
Guthrie begins by describing the process of getting his actors into character as “hard and painful” (they both go “ouch”), but then gets serious. “Many times,” he says, “Kunaal is in the middle of a performance when he says, ‘This isn’t working for me, maybe we could do it like that.’ And I say, do it. Show it to me, don’t tell me. I watch their impulses a lot. I can see when they want to stand, or walk around, or use their hands, and I just say, ‘That right there? Do it.’ Because you’re a director, not a dictator…”
He’s interrupted by gleeful disagreement from both Kapur and Kumra here. “Shut up!” he says, bursting into laughter himself, while also admitting that he walked right into that one. “There’s usually a moment of heightened intensity in the play,” he says after the room has quieted down. “You can tell that they’re saying the lines, but what’s going on is something else. And the play is all about these moments.” A constellation of moments, we venture? And all three of them say, yes, it’s exactly that.
WHAT: Constellations
WHERE: NCPA
WHEN: Feb 15 – Feb 25
COST: Rs 900 onwards
TO BOOK: ncpamumbai.com
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