Scene Stealers at work

Mahesh Dattani, one of India?s talented playwrights, is back on the stage with another of his brilliant plays.

One of India’s talented playwrights is back on the stage with another of his brilliant plays. And along with him returns one of the city’s leading theatre groups, Scene Stealers, producing the play. Even before word of mouth was out, Mahesh Dattani’s latest play, Seven Steps Around The Fire, to be staged on July 10 and 11 at India Habitat Centre, is rapidly getting sold out. Written as a radio play for BBC Radio 4, the play is Dattani’s first attempt at a detective story on stage.

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It’s the story of Uma Rao, the wife of the Chief Superintendent of Police, who helps to solve a murder mystery that her husband is handling. The adapted version of the radio play looks at the marginalised voice of eunuchs. As Vivek Mansukhani, the man behind Scene Stealers, points out: “It’s not a spoof on eunuchs. It’s a serious play looking at different issues.”

Interestingly, for the first time, a major English theatre production will see some young faces from Hindi theatre, besides a few completely new actors.

For director Dattani, the emphasis was on getting people who could act well and not just speak good English. The lead, however, is played by a well-known theatre and a film face, Tillotama Shome (she played the role of Alice in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding), who says working with Dattani has been an unforgettable experience. “There’s so much that one can learn from him,” she says, adding how playing the role of this very academic, verbose, politically correct yet simple Uma has been tough.

On the other hand the main character of the eunuch has given Daman, who recently acted as Ram in Aamir Raza Husain’s Legend of Ram, an opportunity to explore something totally different. “One doesn’t meet eunuchs everyday, so my experience had to come with the few one has met. I have tried my best and now it depends on the audience,” says the actor who has recently completed a Hindi film, Amavas.

Dattani plans sequels to the play, all of which he will adapt to stage. “And all of them will be stand alone plays,” he assures.

Theatregoers are sure to look forward to some exciting thrill on stage.

The play will be staged on July 10 (7 pm) and 11 (3 pm & 7 pm) at IHC.