Interview: Imaad Shah of THREE PENNY OPERA at Motley Theatre
By: Zofeen Maqsood Nov. 29, 2017
Imaad Shah, at 31, is one of the promising faces in India theatre. He is out with his directorial debut- Three Penny Opera. The play which is widely performed is considered one of the finest by Bertolt Brecht has been adapted in many languages.
BWW catches up with the young director on his brave new offering.
At 31 you are one of the youngest directors in theatre. What would you say?
Yes, I've directed two short films, one of which will be complete early next year, but on stage this is my debut as a director.
2. What made you choose such a large and complex canvas? Weren't you intimidated by it?
I definitely was under a fair bit of pressure as it's a legendary text. It did feel a bit like diving into the deep end to start with, but it's this feeling of being slightly outside the comfort zone that pushes one to grow and make progress. I've felt very strongly about this play now for quite awhile. So definitely the play entered my head first and the realistic desire to stage it came later. I've been very closely connected to the music and to the play for a bit now, and I believe that it's this love for the material that has given us all the stamina to work so hard and so diligently at it. I have unending love for my cast who have been incredibly dedicated and put in not just hard work, but tons of heart and soul into this production. It is definitely one of the most influential plays of the 20th century and the responsibility has been immense, but I can't picture myself doing something half heartedly as a director.
How did you choose your cast and technical team?
We had an intensive casting process meeting many actors, and it became fairly evident who the right people for this play were. I like to give importance to the elusive concept of 'soul' - which definitely comes from music for me- some singers/actors just have soul and that quality is undeniable. Also, given the fact that we're doing Brecht and the socialist philosophies inherent in this work and the way of looking at the world is so important, there were many 'hard to describe' factors that contributed to who I thought were the right people for this play and they have all delivered in spades. I love them all unconditionally.
Was it the subject or the fact that The Three penny Opera is a musical that drew you to the play?
My association with this play is now such that it's hard for me to make these distinctions. For me, it's all just one work. The scenes flow into the songs, sometimes the songs interrupt the scenes- I would like to think Brecht would have been proud of our production. I have studied his philosophies and theories and I find many of them very relevant to what we've been trying to do with this play- which is shake the audience up. Get them to wake up and view the world around them more actively. There is so much in this play that mirrors the world around us. We are living in a country and in a world that is not entirely different from the world at the rise of Fascism the first time around. (Threepenny was written in '28) Corruption and rampant consumerism seems to be the order of the day. The powers that be are self serving and corrupt and governments seem a lot like criminal organisations. Only very well organised and perfectly legal- if anything sanctioned by society. It is a bleak world that is heavily tilted towards the rich and privileged, and Brecht and certainly our production of Threepenny is not going to let us forget that.
Three Penny Opera by
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MotleyDecember 9th, Saturday - 7:30 PM - JBT, NCPA
December 10th, Sunday - 4 PM & 7:30 PM - JBT, NCPA
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