Years after curtain call, India’s first English theatre group returns

Mumbai: It all began on three terraces of a Colaba building. A group of young, enthusiastic, idealistic youngsters would occupy them and pore over scripts and stories, including those by the Bard. They honed their acting skills as they performed ‘Othello', ‘Hamlet' and ‘Tughlaq'. Long before the world became their stage, it was here that they discussed theatre endlessly.In the tumultuous times of WWII, Kulsum Terrace, the Colaba residence of wealthy businessman Jafferseth and wife Kulsumbai, became a lab for theatre enthusiasts. Here began Theatre Group Bombay, India's first English theatre group, which nurtured many talents and produced playwrights, plays and actors. Years after remaining dormant, Theatre Group Bombay was revived on Saturday.Oxford-returned Bobby Sultan Padamsee, son of Jafferseth and Kulsumbai, planted the seed in 1941 at Kulsum Terrace. Later, Bobby's brother, Alyque Padamsee, and his wife Pearl nurtured it. Long before Alyque's prodigal brother-in-law and immensely talented Ebrahim Alkazi formed his own group, Theatre Unit, and later moved to Delhi to establish National School of Drama, he had joined Theatre Group Bombay in 1952 on returning from England. Since he was also part of Progressive Artists' Group, Alkazi roped in the likes of M F Husain and S H Raza to design stages for some of his plays.Bobby was hugely influenced by two things: the English language and New York's theatre collective Group Theatre. He wanted to create a vibrant English theatre scene in India. His baby, Theatre Group Bombay, attracted many young enthusiasts who cut their teeth here before leapfrogging to national and international fame.Before playwright John Murrell's ‘Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story' took Kabir Bedi, as Shah Jahan, to a global stage, he acted in this theatre group's ‘Othello' and ‘Tughlaq'. Before Bollywood beckoned actor Dalip Tahil, he trained under Alyque and Pearl and played Jesus in ‘Godspell'. Etiquette trainer-actor Sabira Merchant groomed the likes of Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta for beauty pageants only years after she cut her teeth in the theatre group.After Alyque's death in 2018, the curtains came down on the group. His daughter, theatre personality Raell Padamsee, who heads the group now, recalls: "It was a cottage industry where my uncle and later my parents joined to create and stage plays. Meals came from my grandmother's kitchen, while ideas and thoughts flowed freely. Love and passion for English theatre drove these idealists."Bobby died young, but his dream to create a vibrant English theatre movement in India survived. It continued as Alyque and Pearl kept the flag flying. Alyque, who reached dizzying heights both in advertising and theatre, penned, produced and directed prolifically. He is best known for playing Mohammed Ali Jinnah in the iconic film ‘Gandhi' (1982). The group produced many good actors, including Gerson da Cunha, Deryck Jeffereyis, Farokkh Mehta, Roger Pereira and Merchant."Nothing has brought me more fame than the Alyque-directed play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire'. We had numerous shows of it and it even won me the All India Critics Award," recalled Merchant, whose uncle Yasin Vazirali introduced her to theatre in the 1960s. She has never looked back since.Farid Currim was at Campion School in the 1960s. Alyque and Pearl were roped in to prepare the school team to participate in an interschool dramatic competition. "I would climb on a window and see the team rehearse and prepare. One day Pearl saw me watching and called to check if I wanted a role. She offered a minor role in a play. And I became part of this group, featuring in several plays and travelling extensively with the troupe," says Currim, who divides his time between acting and advertising.With its relaunch, the group is reviving a rich theatre legacy.