Devika Shahani Punjabi Actor / Producer [English Theatre ] Devika Shahani Punjabi Which is the last best play you saw and why? I think one of the best plays I have seen was Roysten Abel�s OTHELLO IN BLACK AND WHITE. Shakespeare�s masterpiece became a play within a play and the production told the story in different languages seamlessly. What was also beautiful is that the narrative was clear even though one couldn't understand some of what was being said. Stark images and great use of the text. Your favourite adda to see a play Prithvi Theatre Your favourite playwright Have many!! Harold Pinter, Howard Barker, Girish Karnad, Vijay Tendulkar, and amongst the more contemporary lot of playwrights in India � Purva Naresh, Vikram Kapadia, Ram Ganesh Kamatham Your favourite play-character I played Shardlo in Howard Barker�s A HOUSE OF CORRECTION, directed by Rehaan Engineer. A play you would like to see filmed. Why? OK TA TA BYE BYE � written by Purva Naresh. I think her story and the characters with the beautiful nuances would come alive on screen. And it's a story that needs to reach many more people. A novel/short story you would like to see on stage? Why? �EM and the big Hoom� by Jerry Pinto. I can�t say why� But I know it will make an award-winning film. The most hilarious play you have seen BEYOND THERAPY A play, which is over-hyped? THE MOUSETRAP An important ply (but ignored) THE VULTURES by Vijay Tendulkar A passage from an important play that you can recite Juliet: �Come, gentle night,- come loving, black browed night, Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine, That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.� From ROMEO AND JULIET A classical play that you should have read TROILUS AND CRESSIDA by Shakespeare A play that changed your perception about the theatre Working with the text of Barker�s A HOUSE OF CORRECTION. Don't know if it changed my perception about the theatre, but I think it truly exposed me to the challenges of grappling with text- the written word. How do you regard the Mumbai theatre scene? It�s exploding� So many people doing and trying so many different things. That is exciting. Maybe all of it doesn't succeed or some don't even do many shows. But the fact that so many people are out there writing, directing, creating new pieces- it�s an exciting time� Have you read any interesting books/articles concerning the theatre? Why did you find them interesting? My all-time favourite book is �On Acting� by Uta Hagen. Every actor must read it. If you have ever been a part of a theatre production/s, can you recall an event that was insightful, significant or simply humorous? A moment I can never forget was while we were doing a show of ROMEO AND JULIET (directed by Vikram Kapadia). The knife I was to kill myself with didn't open. And I had find a way to die on stage � so Shakespeare had a few extra lines from me to his credit! Can you think of a foreign production that you found remarkable? Why? THE ODYSSEY by Footsbarn. They bring together various elements and languages to tell stories. It is a sort of multi-sensory treat. Your favourite director/actor/music or set designer Sorry that is a very difficult question to answer!! I think everyone brings their own unique talent to everything and there is something to take away from each one. I miss having Rehaan Engineer around though. A significant Indian production that you may have witnessed THE LEGEND OF RAM by Aamir Raza Husain and his wife Virat Husain. I think it was really the first time that India had seen theatre on that scale. It was a spectacle and also I loved the way he used the natural elements in the production. It was beautiful to watch it and I enjoyed being a part of it for a short while as well. Life in the theatre without the humble batata-wada or the cutting chai� or can you recall the best gastronomic experience you�ve had in the precincts of the theatre to date? I think I really experienced the �Foodie� days when I worked with Hosi Vasunia in the 90s. Those times were filled with food and fun and laughter. One particular incident I remember is when Pearl Padamsee cooked the most delicious pork vindaloo for us after a rehearsal of BETRAYAL. I will never forget the time as we sat around her table and she told stories of the theatre while we devoured that vindaloo."   read / post your comments More Speaks Aakanksha Gade Abhishek Pattnaik Adhaar Khurana Adhir Bhat Theatre Speak Aish Pandit Theatre Speak Ajitesh Gupta Akanksha Gupta Akarsh Khurana Akriti Singh Akshat Nigam Akshay Shimpi Aman Gupta Aman Gupta Theatre Speak Amit Behl Amol Parashar Anand Tiwari Ankit Soni Anubha Fatehpuria Apara Mehta Archana Patel Nandi Arghya Lahiri Arnesh Ghose Arun Kakade Aseem Hattangady Ashish Saleem Ashutosh Potdar Ashwin Gidwani Asif Ali Beg Atul Kumar Atul Satya Koushik Azaad Bhakti Rathod Bhushan Korgaonkar Bijon Mondal Boman Irani Brajesh Hirjeev Chaitanya Tamhane Charudatta Bhagwat Chirag Vohra Theatre Speak Chitralekha Rathod Chitransh Pawar Cyrus Dastoor Damini Kanwal Danesh Irani Darrshan Jariwalla Debobrata Banerjee Deepika Deshpande Amin Deesh Mariwala Delna Patel Devika Shahani Punjabi Dhanendra Kawade Theatre Speak Dharmendra Gohil Dhruv Lohumi Dilnaz Irani Dinesh Thakur Dinyar Tirandas Divya Jagdale Divya Palat Dolly Thakore Faezeh Jalali Theatre Speak Gaurav Singh Geeta Manek Theatre Speak Gurleen Judge Hardik Sangani Harsh Desai Harshal Singh Hidayat Ali Sami Hilda David Himanshu Singh Howard Rosemeyer Hridaynath Jadhav Hussaini Dawawala Huzan Wadia Imran Rasheed Inaayat Ali Sami Ira Dubey Ishitta Arun Jagdish Rajpurohit Jaimini Pathak Jaimini Pathak1 Jameel Khan Janak Toprani Jasvinder Singh Jayati Bhatia Theatre Speak Jaydeep Apte Jim Sarbh Joy Fernandes Joy Sengupta Jyoti Vyas Kajal Gadhia Kamlesh Mota Kamlesh Oza Karthik T M Ketan Karande Khanjan Thumber Kulvinder Bhakshish Kumud Mishra Kyla D'Souza L J Mehta Theatre Speak Lillete Dubey Lubna Salim Maanvi Gagroo Mahabano Mody Kotwal Manali Kale Manasi Prabhakar Joshi Manaswini Lata Ravindra Mandar Chandwadkar Maneesh Verma Manish Gandhi Mansi Multani MD Pallavi Meena Vaibhav Theatre Speak Meenal Patel Meher Acharia Dar Meherzad Patel Mikhail Sen Mohit Agarwal Mohit Sharma Mujeeb Khan Nageen Tanvir Nagesh Bhosale Naman Mukherji Namit Das Namrata Pathak Theatre Speak Naseeruddin Shah Naushil Mehta Naushil Mehta (Part II) Nazneen Madan Neelam Gheewala Neha Singh Nipun Dharmadhikari Nivedita Baunthiyal Om Katare Omkar Bhatkar Padma Damodaran Parag Dubey Paromita Chatterjee Pathy Aiyar Pradnya Shastri Prajakt Deshmukh Pramod Pathak Pranati Prakash Rai Pranay Gupta & Sohini Gupta Pratik Gandhi Pratik Kothari Pratima Kulkarni Preeta Mathur Pritesh Sodha Priyanshu Painyuli Quasar Thakore Padamsee Radha Bhardwaj Rahul Antani Rahul Valmiki Raj Yadav Rajeev Ravindranathan Rajendra Gupta Rajit Kapoor. 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