Over the last 26 years, Lillete Dubey’s Primetime Theatre Company has staged many critically acclaimed plays most of which have been adaptations of renowned English and Hindi works. Last year, while commemorating her theatre group’s silver jubilee, the veteran actor-director thought of directing her first children’s play. She happened to choose French playwright Leon Chancerel’s one-act piece The Dancing Donkey which will be staged this Sunday.
The play, which features Asif Ali Beg, Pravishi Das, Rajeev Siddhartha, Anuschka Sawhney, Danny Sura and Rohit Mehra, revolves around a wonder donkey that is owned by a priest. Two thieves steal the animal and try to con the priest into getting his donkey back. What transpires next forms the crux of the story.
Dubey, who considers helming plays for adults as her oeuvre, says, “I thought it was high time we started inculcating a taste for theatre in young minds.” The artiste chose Chancerel’s piece as it was well written and catered to kids and adults alike. “When I was 16, I had worked with Barry John’s company, Theatre Action group. He had done this play and I had loved it,” she recollects. When Dubey decided to stage a production for kids, she was looking for something simple yet different and celebratory. “It’s a universal story that can be set anywhere. I wanted it to appeal to a wide section of audience,” says the thespian. “I call The Dancing Donkey a play for those who are young at heart.”
The play doesn’t have grand sets or flying witches; the usual trappings of a children’s play, and instead bears a simple look. “I wanted the kids to use their imagination. We have improvised a lot and the actors have even sung on stage,” says Dubey. The Dancing Donkey boasts of interesting, funny and witty lines without being patronising. “The text is not childish. Children will love the simple narrative. There is a lot of slapstick comedy,” Dubey explains.
The actor-director is happy with the way the play has been received in other parts of the country and wants to work on more shows for the young audience. The sexagenarian has a lot on her plate: in addition to this children’s play, her English film, Sonata , which released yesterday sees the actor share space with Aparna Sen and Shabana Azmi. Plus, there’s two other productions 9 parts of Desire and The Wedding Album that are being staged this weekend.
But Dubey refuses to slow down and has already started working on a new production, based on a story by actress-turned-author Twinkle Khanna. “We will open it at the end of October and I will probably play one of the leads in it,” she concludes.
The Dancing Donkey will be staged at G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture on April 23 at noon. Tickets are available at bookmyshow.com
