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Rachna Tyagi
Rachna Tyagi

THEATRE

In 'August' company of Lillete Dubey and Co

august-osage-county

August: Osage County, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tracy Lett, which is being presented to Indian audiences by The Prime Time Theatre Company is continuing to lure audiences in Mumbai on account of some brilliant performances. The original play was made into a film, which earned Meryl Streep her 18th Oscar nomination—incidentally, she turned down the role several times. The Indian version has been directed by Lillete Dubey and has a stellar cast with actors such as Dubey who essays the character played by Meryl Streep (Violet), Anant Mahadevan, Deepika Amin, Suchitra Pillai, Denzil Smith, Ira Dubey, Meher Dar, Maneesh Verma, Danny Sura, Nandita Dubey and Auritra Ghosh.

“Though this is a female-dominated play where men do not have much to do and it is about one large dysfunctional family, I still wanted to be a part of it because Lillete is a very celebrated and accomplished theatre person,” says Mahadevan, who plays the husband of one of Lillete Dubey’s daughters. “My character is called Danny and he is the only positive streak in the entire family, who despite smoking pot and being a wayward guy, doesn’t subscribe to the disrespectful ways of other family members,” says Mahadevan who feels “really great to be a part of the ensemble”.

“The production design, the set she has designed, the way the play has been mounted is excellent. There is a multi-level stage and all the levels and the spaces have been used nicely. The house has a bedroom, a sitting area, a study, a dining area, it has all been done beautifully. The lighting and the music complements it well,” says Mahadevan.

“Lillete stuck to the original as much as possible because she did not get permission from the publishers to change it much,” he says. “The play is almost three hours long and so Bombay audiences may require some getting used to but it has got some great moments of black humour,” he says. “This really is prime time theatre for me.”

Ira Dubey who plays one of Lillete’s daughters, Karen, says that she was excited about playing the eldest daughter, Barbara, originally played by Julia Roberts, in the film. However, after having played the housekeeper before, she now plays the third daughter, Karen, who, she says, is a “fun character”, who has a “middle sibling complex”. “She is a bit of a delusional person who lives in a bubble; she is self-absorbed yet childish. She has an innocent quality about her and is coquettish but she has her own life and her own career. She is in love with a slimeball and wants to marry him which is quite tragic also. She is very interesting psychologically to understand,” says Ira. “Moreover, the impact of her character is stronger because she comes half way through the play,” she explains.

Lillete Dubey who has always been keenly interested in exploring Indian theatre and the roots “because of the way people relate to Indian material and how the Indian stories' spirit is very Indian,” says that she has “always been very attracted to texts” and “the writing becomes a big seduction”. “The script of August: Osage County was just so delicious. It is a kickass script, wickedly funny and that’s what attracted me about this dysfunctional family,” she says. “This is a play that could be set anywhere (hers is set in Goa) and it totally transcends socio-economic ethos because of the sphere of human relationships, which fascinate me,” she says. “It would resonate with anyone, anywhere in the world,” she says. “This play is not going to leave you with a nice, candy floss taste in the mouth” but then Lillete was never one to bother with any script “unless there was some meat on the bone”.

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Topics : #theatre

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