PACKING IT FOR FOUR DECADES

Shashi and Jennifer Kapoor founded Prithvi Theatre in 1978. The theatre was a tribute to Prithviraj Kapoor who had died in 1972 and a hat tip to Jennifer’s parents, Geoffrey and Laura Kendal, who ran Shakespearana, a travelling theatre company. Before finding a home in Juhu, a suburb that borders the sea in the western part of Mumbai, Prithvi Theatre was a drama company. It was formed by Prithviraj Kapoor in 1944 and ran till 1960 when dwindling funds forced a shut down. The first play performed under the aegis of Prithvi Theatre, the drama company, was Shakuntala by Kalidas but the elder Kapoor felt that doing mythologicals was not really his forte or purpose. The company employed playwrights and they wrote seven original plays that were performed in 112 towns across the country. Deewar, a play written by Inder Raj Anand and Prithviraj Kapoor, is being restaged as part of the 40th year celebrations. It was first staged in 1945 and uses the metaphor of a family being torn apart to talk about the then growing divide within the country under British rule. The first play to be staged at the theatre was Udhwastha Dharmashala about a radical left-wing professor persecuted by his university. Written by G P Deshpande, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and directed by Satyadev Dubey, the play had Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Benjamin Gilani among its cast.