“Five or six years ago, someone handed me a script for a one-man play . I read it, filed it away, and said I would do it some day. That’s what usually happens when I like a script,” says Naseeruddin Shah. He had two months to prepare a play for the Prithvi Theatre festival last year; with nothing else falling in place, he took up that script. The popular stage and film actor will be in the city to perform that play, Einstein, next Sunday.
Written by Gabriel Emanuel, a German Jew by birth (like Einstein), who settled in Canada and is based in Tel Aviv, the play, according to Shah, “Wants to make a line drawing of Einstein rather than a thesis on the man. It’s a basic lesson on what he was trying to do and the person he was. Probably, the person was better known than his work.” He adds that it’s also a primer on the theory of relativity and his attitude towards his work, and what he felt due to his work being used in the Manhattan Project to create the atomic bomb. “It left him with a lasting guilt of contributing to the horror; he was a pacifist and activist against nuclear warfare. The play paints a personal picture of his childhood, parents, marriages and children,” says Shah.
Over the years, several people have commented on the physical similarities Shah has with Einstein. “That is a great advantage; Nature took care of that,” he laughs, speaking on the phone from Mumbai fresh out of a rehearsal. And although he has been playing the theoretical physicist since November last, it hasn’t made Shah like physics any more than he used to at school. “I frequently used to fail. Never liked the subject,” he says with evident distaste. But has he taken on any other characteristics of Einstein while playing the character? “No, I’m very careful to keep it separate from my own personality.”
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“Choosing a play is a decision that happens with time. I always decide a play without having a cast in mind, unless it’s a solo story. The script is what makes the decisions, not the actors who could potentially play the part. At Motley, we do a great deal of rehearsal. For a couple of months, we just read. This is how we decide who gets which part. Everyone feels that they are integral to the role they are playing. In fact, the ‘small’ roles are usually the toughest to play. This is how a production evolves,” says the veteran.
Picking the play was the easiest part. Directing himself was not. “It’s a terrible burden to direct and act. You can’t always figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s always advisable to have someone outside; I have Ratna (Pathak Shah) and Arghya (Lahiri). They are my sounding boards,” says Shah.
On performing in Chennai, he says, “I hope the audience will listen to it. The south has a deep connection with scientists and physicists, and I feel that as a very intellectual audience, they can connect with the play. Even the Urdu plays we have done here have got tremendous response.”
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Shah hasn’t yet decided what he’s working on next, but he does have some stories in mind. “My son is working on an Edgar Allan Poe project that I want to be involved in. There are also some plays, including Copenhagen . But my dream is to produce a play on St. Joan of Arc. I should get working on that.”
Einstein will be staged at The Music Academy on Sunday, June 14. Proceeds from the show will go to Vajra, an NGO that works for women’s empowerment. Tickets available on eventjini.com and bookmyshow.com. Call 9940164454 for details.