Theatre director-actor Saattvick, who has shared stage with Anna Popplewell and Tom Hathaway, is back with The Pad. He tells Karan Bhardwaj his play highlights the nuances of the lGBT community
After doing several plays abroad and sharing stage with well-known faces like Anna Popplewell (The Chronicles of Narnia fame) and Tom Hathaway (Anna Hathaway’s brother), theatre director and actor Saattvick is showing up his next production The Pad in the city.
The play explores relationships in contemporary India among people belonging to communities that most people know very little of and are subject to quick stereotyping. The play begins with story of a gay couple. “The theatrical representation of lGBT community is limited to sexual orientation. It’s like talking about Mahatama Gandhi and only mentioning his freedom struggle. What about Mahatama as an individual, his life, likes and dislikes. So I am focussing on the human angle of lGBT community and not just ‘sex’. There’s so much into life which we tend to ignore when one issue is highlighted,” he says.
The other communities which will feature in the play are Anglo Indians and armymen through a story of a retired couple. The male character is a Anglo and retired from the army. “Anglo Indians today are snubbed in public discourse. People don’t know that our Parliament still has two reserved seats for this community. We have completely forgotten their massive contribution to our history, culture and development. Anglo folks have had disproportionately large representation in education, postal, railways, defence and government sectors. One of our previous chief of armed forces was an Anglo Indian. Our story shows what an Anglo Indian means in today’s age and how they have reconciled their British heritage with contemporary India,” he says. With this story, the play also highlights how little attention is paid to psychological problems in India, which is a big deal in Western nations. “In army here, they would knock you off if you are not mentally fit. In West, they address the issue as psychology is as important as anything else could be. We have social inertia and attach stigma to it,” says the director who will also be seen acting in his play. The gay couple resides in the house which was previously owned by the old retired couple.
lGBT is widely discussed but it’s interesting how Anglo issues caught his attention. Saattvick shares that the idea was germinated after he visited his friend’s place which was previously owned by the Anglos. He was intrigued to find old cabinets, wallpapers, ceramic figures, glasses and other objects with names of the owners. “You start imagining about the people who would create that set up. So that’s how I began to learn about this community,” he says. This similar experience would be translated in the play as the gay couple is living the house previously owned by the Anglos. “So the story of Anglo couple starts like a flashback,” he tells us.
Saattvick, who has been into theatre since childhood, is an economic enthusiast. He went to Oxford University to pursue M Phil in Economics before settling there for three years as an economist. “But then, I kept doing theatre and I met Hollywood bigwigs during the Oxford stint. Anna Popplewell and I did Indian Ink together when she played a lead opposite me. It was a British poet who comes to India in search of enlightenment,” he says.
In November 2012, he had successfully staged his first Indian production titled Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey which travelled across cities.