SHAlINI SAKSENA chats up VIDUSHI MEHRA and SAMAR SARIlA who are bringing to India the iconic international play Skylight, with an Indian twist
It is not very often would Delhi play host to plays, that too an iconic global one. But now, with the avid theatre goer making a mark in Delhi, things are changing for the better. Come December 7, the audience will get to see a great work by renowned English playwright, Sir David Hare.
Hare has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hours in 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Reader in 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.
ThoughSkylight was first staged in 1995 and is the proud winner of several awards like the laurence Olivier Award for Play of the Year in 1996, the Theatre World Special Award for Outstanding Debut Ensemble in 1997 and the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2015, it has taken the Indian theatre-circuit more than 20 years to bring it to the Capital.
“We wanted to bring something that has touched the hearts of the audience world over. Though I fell in love with the play three years back, it was not until August this year that I finally decided to bring it to the Indian stage. That Skylight is relevant socially and emotionally even today made it the perfect choice to stage for our young theatre company,” Vidushi Mehra, who plays Kyra Hollis in the play, tells you.
With london as its backdrop, the play will talk about a schoolteacher, Kyra Hollis, who is visited by her ex-lover, rich restaurateur Tom Sergeant, at her apartment on a cold winter evening.
For Samar Sarila, who plays 50-year-old businessman Tom Sergeant, Skylight comes with layers. “It has been years since he saw Kyra. His son, 18, convinces him to go and see her. Is there a lot of ego in his demeanourIJ What would have happened if his wife had not found out about the affairIJ Would he and Kyra have continued their affairIJ These are some of the things that the audience will get to see,” Sarila says.
Talking about the play, Mehra says that it is a one of a kind story that will alter one’s attitude towards life and its complexities. Skylight is a heartfelt and often humorous, albeit dark, account of two people who are bound together by a shared passion but they are divided by ideologies.
“The two are meeting after many years and Kyra finds that she has matured as a person and moved on from where she was when she was still young and with Sergeant. She finds that she has nothing in common with him that would make for a fine romance and what follows is a reunion which sees the two discuss issues including politics, in a passionate and amusing manner,” Mehra explains.
What madeSkylight so iconic back in the 90s was the real-life complexities that one could see unfolding on stage through two characters who are different from each other — she is in her mid 30s and the sergeant in his 50s. As the night progresses, an entertaining battle between their opposing ideologies and a mutual desire ensue, involving cooking pasta and flinging of cutlery.
“Things can’t get any more real than me preparing the pasta, cutting onions and tomatoes. The audience will get a whiff of it as the dish gets prepared and that is what is important when it comes to stage performances. We wanted the props and lighting to be perfect. We didn’t want the spectators to think that there is something out of context when it comes to real life,” Mehra says. And that’s the reason why, the two decided to give it an entirely Indian feel.
Over the years, Mehra has seen many plays that have been brilliant but found that sometimes the props were tacky or the lighting eating into audience enjoyment. Hence, when they were looking for a director for their project, they found that Deepa Dharmadhikari would be best as she was also a lighting expert.
“When I came on board I found that the biggest challenge was not to direct but other aspects of it, like locking on the best place. Since Vidushi and Sarilal are accomplished actors, I didn’t really have to guide them much since they had almost everything in place, Deepa says.
Interestingly, none of the people involved has seen or is interested in seeing how the original play unfolded. They want to go with their own interpretation. In its Indian revival, Skylight will be brought to life especially for the audiences in the creatively designed performance space of Oddbird Theatre & Foundation which is a space for performing arts for audiences in Delhi.
“We found that this space was a perfect platform to launch our version while retaining the core of the play,” Mehra says, adding that the play is a unique look at relationships, politics and the society we live in.
When the original play premiered in the West End at the Cottesloe Theatre, london in 1995, it became a rage. From there it went to Wyndham's Theatre in 1996 and the same year, it opened on Broadway, returning to West End in 1997 and 2014. It took New York City by storm as well. Since then, the play has been adapted in several languages with the most notable being the 2015 Broadway adaptation starring Carry Mulligan and Bill Nighy.
So, what happens in the endIJ It is for the audience to interpret in a manner they deem fit. The producers and actors only want to entertain rather than getting into a philosophical debate.