Feature: David Hare's SKYLIGHT Gets Its First-Ever Indian Adaptation

It is the seamless blend of sensory, gastronomic, complicated and sometimes unspoken human emotions that continue to fascinate the audiences in the first ever, Indian adaptation of famous English playwright David Hare's iconic play - Skylight. The play made it Indian debut late last December in the capital city of Delhi, with theatre actors Samar Sarila and Vidushi Mehra playing the parts of protagonists Tom and Kyra respectively. Since then, the play has also had its second showing, in February this year at the quaintly situated Oddbird Theatre in a quiet part of Mehrauli in the city. The play has managed to attract a steady crowd of seasoned theatre lovers in India and encouraged by the response the cast is planning an elaborate eight-city tour across the country this year.

The play presents an interesting juxtaposition of how powerful stories set in different continents and across decades find an easy resonance with audiences who end up drawing allegorical references pertaining to the times that they live in. The original setting of the play that first premiered in West End, is a modest, cold flat in East London, during the post Thatcher era. The story line involves two unlikely lovers who re-discover their differential ideologies as genius interplay of societal and political atmosphere shapes the backdrop.

Ever since its first showing at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London back in 1995, the play has been drawing rave reviews for its effective inlay of politics and romance and has been adapted in various productions over the years. Amongst the most remarkable of its revivals being the 2015 Broadway showing starring Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan. Theatre veterans, Nighy and Mulligan, as Tom and Kyra, with their distinct signature styles, effectively bring about that romantic glumness, the characters of Tom Sergeant, a rich restaurateur and Kyra Hollis, a schoolteacher demand. For its Indian adaptation, not only the director had the steep task of making the characters bring about the same depth and accurate timing between cynicisms and quick wit that the protagonists flit effortlessly between but also engage the Indian audiences who are used to watching more mushy though somewhat unbelievable expressions of romance.

But according to Vidushi Mehra, who also doubles up as the producer of the show, the purpose of theatre is to present honest oddities. She says, "Even if it is a selection of people who are ready to understand the process in a country with the population as big as India we are still penetrating a lot of minds. She reasons, "Theatre has always being an intimate art form even back in the times of its origin in Greece. It is a process so different from cinema where you have the luxury and re-takes and no real connect with the watching audience that you could tell detached stories. Theatre on the contrary is a three-dimensional presentation and the stories told have to be more real to be impactful."

Director Samar Sarila who plays the central character of Tom believes it is these ironies of life that makes the story universally relatable. And the way the play has connected people it is easy to say that the story is as relevant for Indians as it was for the British audiences back in the mid nineties or for the New Yorkers in twenty-tens.

The director, producer duo of Sarila and Mehra met Sir David Hare at a literature festival in India earlier this year and chose to keep the context of the play intact and not adapt it into an Indian setting to honor the playwrights' theme and also because they felt that the story is so universal that it does not need any local, Indian references.

Especially in the populist pro-business era being projected in India right now, this story that effectively explains the constriction between free-market capitalism and pro-labor socialism forms an engaging platform. According to Mr Sarila, the presence of these topics has increased in contemporary societies. Ms Mehra explains, "While the playwright mentioned the economically weak in Britain, it was as much about the economically weak anywhere in the world." On why the story line is extremely important in India today, she adds, "The play touches upon how politics plays a part in our everyday lives. We have a number of issues that we are struggling with right now. Our farmers die of famines, the education system for the poor leaves much to be desired, millions of people live below poverty line with no access to basic amenities. The play mirrors the fact that politics is about good governance. It is about a balanced approach towards the weaker sections of society."

The Indian adaptation, manages to strike a chord also because of other emotional aspects. Themes such as class divide, adultery, sex, left-wing politics, cooking as a craft form that form the focal point of the play are all ideas that pretty much sum up the urban Indian doctrine.

The play begins on a cold night in a flat where, Kyra, a schoolteacher living an austere life has two unexpected visitors, her ex-lovers' son who pleads her to come back to save his father from a self-wallowing depression and another from Tom, her lover himself. While exchanging wit laced banter on everything on how the food should be cooked to the arrogance of a rich businessman with which he mocks Kyra's choice of a simpleton life and her defiant attitude towards the mindset, shows the two extremes of Indian ethnography and the modern struggles of young Indians.

The actors are hopeful that by telling the story of Kyra who chose to leave a life of comfort to teach the students from the bottom of the heap while living in extraordinary circumstances that baffle her rich lover is something that will find a connect with Indians not just in metro cities but in small towns too.

Ms Mehra maintains, that the idea to adapt the play was an honest attempt to show the universality of human emotions regardless of the place or position. And perhaps in troubled times such as these we do need stories that speak a common language to re-establish this point.

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