Vinay Sharma's Mark Twain: Live in Bombay! to premiere in Kolkata

Padatik Theatre and Rikh’s latest production recreates a lecture given by Mark Twain at Novelty Theatre in Bombay in 1896
Mark Twain: Live in Bombay! will be staged at Padatik Little Theatre II on February 16-17
Mark Twain: Live in Bombay! will be staged at Padatik Little Theatre II on February 16-17

Watch Mark Twain come alive on stage this weekend, with Padatik Theatre and Rikh’s latest production, Mark Twain: Live in Bombay! The solo act by Vinay Sharma recreates a lecture given by Mark Twain at Novelty Theatre in Bombay, in 1896. “The play is based on the travels and writings of Mark Twain, and re-imagines the lecture which he might have given in India, back then. It gives us a glimpse of the humour, wit and satire that defines Mark Twain’s prose,” says Sharma, the artistic director of Padatik Theatre, who surprisingly has a fleeting resemblance with the American author.

<em>Gabriel Emanuel is working on another play on Mark Twain's trip to Palestine in 1867</em>
Gabriel Emanuel is working on another play on Mark Twain's trip to Palestine in 1867

The lecture, called At Home Talk, was ticketed and one among the many ventures that Mark Twain had taken up to bail himself out of a financial crisis. Gabriel Emanuel, the Canadian playwright who has written the script, uses passages from some of Mark Twain’s fictions, including Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He has also woven Twain’s travel pieces and tales about Mississippi into the narrative, with scathing prose that the author was known for.

“The text is not just humorous, but also quite relevant in the trenchant socio-political criticism that it offers — whether he was talking about the freedom of the press, the religious witch hunts, or the censorship of writers and artistes. It has resonances with whatever is happening in various parts of the world today,” notes Sharma.

<em>Directed by Vinay Sharma, the play also talks about the writing process </em>
Directed by Vinay Sharma, the play also talks about the writing process 

“But the play is very different from a conventional one, where you have fictional characters, because the scope of interpretation is very vast,” suggests Sharma. “It was a real challenge, not just to get into the skin of a foreigner and emulate his gestural scape, but to capture the spirit of the man, and the spirit of the times, simultaneously. It took me four-five months to read around the character and work around the way he spoke,” reveals the theatre veteran.

The 90-minute play will have lights designed by Sudip Sanyal and some jazz and blues too, punctuating the narrative, to evoke a feel of the American South and Mississippi, from where the author hailed. Gabriel is working on another version of the play, called Mark Twain in the Holy Land, based on an 1867 trip to Palestine by the author, and slated for production in Israel.

Mark Twain: Live in Bombay! will premiere on February 16 at Padatik Little Theatre II.

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