There is a palpable sense of magic on stage as Ratna Pathak Shah—as Xenobia—enters the scene and walks up to a snoozing Rashid (Naseeruddin Shah) to wake him up with a little tap on his arm.
He’s a doctor at the sanatorium where she is a patient and as he proceeds to read out the list of complaints other patients have about her, she dismisses them with light-hearted responses. Exasperated yet amused by her incessant chatter and casual remarks, he tells her—“you seem to have an extraordinary talent of reducing everything to nothing”.
As the story progresses, a bond slowly forms between 75-year-old Rashid and the ‘just past 65’ Xenobia.
For the real-life husband and wife, who have worked in several plays together, it may seem natural to have this kind of chemistry on stage. But in this adaptation of Russian playwright Aleksei Arbuzov’s Old World, directed by Arghya Lahiri, that connection seems to be heightened.
“Theatre and acting are hard work, and no matter who you are with, you have to work at it. While I don’t take our relationship for granted, what you can take for granted is the reliability and dependability of your partner. It is most important that you feel safe on the stage with the person,” says Naseeruddin. On her part, Ratna says that when working with her husband, there is a certain level of trust. “We have worked together and lived with our characters for a long time. All that has led not only to a sense of comfort but also a sense of trust and of knowing that whatever I do, I am not going to throw the other person off,” she says.
It is the first time that the two-actor Old World has been staged in India—it opened at the Prithvi Theatre Festival 2023 on November 4 in Mumbai—by Naseer’s theatre group, Motley. The actor has mentioned earlier that although the story had been lying with him for a long time, he felt that it needed a certain experience that comes with age to play the part. Indeed, the audiences find themselves invested in the tale of this ageing couple who, though poles apart, seem to find some sort of comfort in the other’s company.
The playful banter between the taciturn doctor and his eccentric patient elicits much laughter. Much to Rashid’s irritation, Xenobia mispronounces words and breaks out into Parsi expletives and phrases every once in a while. Slowly but steadily, she manages to get under his skin, even bringing out his lighter side. When she tells him that she likes taking long walks at night in town, imagining ghosts jumping out at her from dark corners, he pranks her into believing that there is a woman standing behind her with her feet pointed backwards. “How horrible you are!” she berates him.
The show uses minimal props—a hallmark of Motley productions—and the set changes are quick and fluid. The sanatorium garden transforms into a café, which later changes into a church and cliffside witha few readjustments of the table, chairs and staircase. “The idea (of the minimal props and swift set changes) was to do it as efficiently as possible without wasting time,” says Lahiri.
Under all the humour and witty repartee, though, lies the loneliness that comes with old age, which the play addresses in a subtle and sensitive manner. There is a certain poignancy in the way their friendship develops over the course of time. Over weeks and her many “inconsistencies”, as he likes to call it, Rashid and Xenobia share some of their most personal stories.
Her husband left her for a younger woman and her 16-year-old son went missing in the 1992 Bombay riots. His army surgeon-wife died in the India-Bangladesh war of 1971, leaving a three-year-old daughter and a heartbroken husband behind. “They are trying to avoid talking about subjects that they are uncomfortable with, but at some point, when they have gained enough trust, they reveal their vulnerabilities to the other, just the way it happens in life,” adds the director.
One of the highlights—which had everyone in the audience clapping—was when the ‘almost-couple’ go out on a dinner date and end up jiving, doing the bhangra and finally doing a slow dance. The crackling chemistry between the characters is a visual treat for fans of the veteran actors. It is, however, in the little acts of kindness that the two strangers bestow on each other where the play finds its ground. He follows her out of the church because he notices she isn’t carrying a raincoat or an umbrella and it is about to rain.
She brings him a home-cooked cutlet to eat when he is in the hospital for a minor health issue. “The actual story is nothing but a series of acts of kindness that two people do to each other alternately. That is perhaps the biggest takeaway for me, that people can be kind and gentle with each other,” shares Lahiri.