QTP’s adaptation of Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s Every Brilliant Thing has taken to the stage diligently over the past five years to encourage conversations about de-stigmatising mental illness in an age when it is becoming increasingly important to advocate for it. In the aftermath of their 120th staging of the show, held in Calcutta in collaboration with Prakriti Foundation and The Urban Theatre Project, t2 caught up with director Quasar Thakor Padamsee and actor Vivek Madan for a chat. Excerpts.
How has it been performing in Calcutta?
Quasar Thakore Padamsee: This is our sixth show in the city and we’ve been quite lucky in the fact that we’ve performed in front of very different people across the past four days. It’s been really interesting seeing how people respond to it. Part of the magic is the writing, of course, but the locational factor also plays a part. We’ve been doing lots of school shows here, and we had one school batch which had 15-17-year-olds. And they responded very differently from the batch that was just 16 and 17 years old. And then drama and theatre students have responded in a completely different way. Language plays a part too… for example, we did (a post-show mental health) talkback (with a counsellor) at Rabindra Bharati University in Bangla because that is the main language of communication there. We always do a talkback after every show in case there are any questions or feelings that have come up during watching the play, and we always have a counsellor on hand who can hold that conversation. It’s part of our show.
Vivek Madan: The children have always been hugely responsive. There were a couple of questions in the talkback after the first show that were really telling. You could see what children in the 10th and 11th standards are going through. The pressures of academia, of success, of being cool, of just having friends, of falling in love, those are all really, really big things, as they should be. And to provide a space for this play to be a conversation starter, I think, was the best thing. Of course, it’s difficult to say what the ramifications will be, but if the kids feel more comfortable about talking about their struggles, then that’s really the end goal.
And after today’s show, where the audience is adult and they have their own agency and are able to make decisions for themselves, I’m sure the struggles are different. In the past we’ve had people who have really opened up. One of the beautiful things that has happened after this show is that many people have gone on to start writing their own lists. Some of them have started WhatsApp groups with their friends and families and they keep adding to the list wherever they go. And, of course, there are some people who have come up to us after the shows and said: “Look, this is something I had already been doing,” and then they actually show us their list of stuff. And then when we ask them if they’ve seen the show before, they say: “No, but we’ve been doing this for a while regardless.”
The play deals with really serious themes. How do you personally interpret those focus points?
QTP: When we first started building the show, we had a lot of preview audiences. And there were some people in those audiences that we knew very well who had different kinds of personal struggles that we had had no idea about previously. Like, there’s a friend of ours who we asked in the preview to come up and play Vivek’s lecturer, and she did do it but there was complete fear on her face. And we were like: “Arrey, there’s only 10 people in the room, why’re you being so shy?!” And she said: “Arrey, but I’m dyslexic, na!” And we honestly had no idea. I had known her for at least 15 years and Vivek’s known her for longer… yet we had zero clue she was struggling with something like that.
VM: Now when we invite someone up from the audience, we take care that the person isn’t going to be put in a tight spot and is comfortable enough to take on the role. These are things we need to be aware of, and as we were working on the play, we took care to create an environment that the majority of people would respond to. We’ve both been very mindful of that.
QTP: There’s also been continual evolution. The play was written in 2011, I think, and some of the information in there needed some updating. And so we’ve done that a bit too. We’ve had counsellors come in and say, “You know, that piece of information was what people back then were thinking but it’s changed a little bit….” So we take care that the things that we mention are valid at the point in time we’re performing it. The play has evolved because our learning of the play has evolved. We’ve had a lot of fun building it and also a lot of learning through it. And it still evolves, even now.
What are the parts you have the most fun with? I know audience participation can sometimes be a little tricky to deal with, and that must take a lot of discretion…
QTP: That’s also something that’s changed. When we first opened, we were a bit paranoid about that bit, and Vivek used to go out and look at the audience beforehand and scan them a little to try and figure out which person would suit what character. But as we rehearsed, we got more and more comfortable, and we realised it didn’t really matter who came on and said what. There’s another guy we have who’s present in the play without actually being present — Robbin Singh (VM laughs) — his job is to make Vivek’s life hell!
VM: He gets paid for it! He plays all the other parts.
QTP: Yeah, his job is to assume what the audience character will say. Because Vivek has to be prepared for anything that can come up from the audience, right? So Robbin’s job is to keep challenging him, to make sure he is present and aware. And sometimes Robbin has done the most bizarre things during rehearsal, and Vivek and I have turned to each other and gone: “Whaaat is this guy doing?! This will never happen!” And then, I kid you not, a week or a month down the line, that exact same thing has happened!
VM: The most recent one was when at rehearsal I called Robbin on to be the vet and I said, “Now you say something reassuring”, and he said: “Sorry, what?” and I said again: “Say something reassuring”, and he said: “Oh, so I have to be the vet? That’s what you meant?! Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise!” And he started apologising to an imaginary audience in the rehearsal room, and doing it all in character! And I got fed up and I broke character and I said: “Robbin, just shut up, nobody’s going to do this!” And then the next day there was a gentleman who I picked up to be the vet, and the exact same thing happened! And then I thanked Robbin in my heart and in my head and sent him many, many kheer kodom boxes! (Laughs)
And you’ve obviously adapted the story to suit the Indian context. What do you find most rewarding about bringing this story to our audiences?
VM: I think Duncan and Jonny have said in the preface and several other places that they recommend the script to be adapted to the cultural context of the place where it is being performed, because frankly otherwise it is not going to work out.
QTP: The interesting thing is, this is one of the few plays in which it says at the top that this play must be performed in the idiom in which it is being played. We were able to preview the first three or four pages of an annotated copy, and Duncan had circled this stage direction and made a note at the bottom saying: “When I wrote this line, I never thought this is what would cause my play to be performed in so many countries and so many places.” That’s what we were trying to do, we were trying to stay true to life. Our play is still about a boy who grew up in Bangalore, went to study in Delhi and eventually settled in Bombay. And that could be anyone.
Is there anything in particular that you want audiences to take away from the play?
QTP: That it’s okay to seek help and have conversations, whether you are struggling or not. That to seek counselling is okay, and normal. Really simply, to look at things in the world and say: “Man, that’s kind of a brilliant thing!” And add to their own lists, whether actively or subconsciously. That’s what we want; for people to feel community, to feel less alone.
