After staging Mayday recently, Trishla Patel’s Tpot Productions is ready with another exciting project next year
When actor and director Trishla Patel set up Tpot Productions in 2010, it was with the aim of seeing original plays on stage. Over the past six years, the multi-talented lady has done just that — directed and produced a number of plays, which have inspired her at the moment. “As a production house, I want to explore what I’ve not seen on stage. I would like to do anything that is inspiring at that moment,” she says. Tpot Productions has two new plays lined up. They premiered Mayday last Friday and the next is Jannat Central, a dance-drama. “After that, I might do a mythology-based play,” she shares.
What a farce!
Talking about Mayday, Trishla tells us that the play has been co-written by her and her husband Vishal Capoor. The play is a farcical approach to a story inspired from the true events of the ill-fated flight MH 17 which was shot down over Ukraine last year. “Another flight going in the opposite direction happened to be just 90 seconds away but did not get hit,” she says. Trishla explains that this is not a docu-drama, but a humorous observation of the true nature of people which emerges when they are suddenly in the midst of a life or death situation.
Trishla says she has written this musical-drama, specially for smaller spaces so it opens up more avenues for her. “There are lots of elements coming into the play. There are a total of 11 actors on stage,” adds the actress, who has also directed the play. Considering her husband has co-written the play with her, is he also a writer? “No, he’s just funny!” she laughs.
Act one
Her next play that opens at Prithvi Theatre in January in the coming year, is also something she hasn’t seen on the stage in a long time. “Jannat Central is a dance-drama, something that has been on my mind for almost a year now. In fact, I wanted to do it for the Prithvi Festival this year but couldn’t because of some reasons,” Trishla tells us.
Jannat Central focusses on two girls, J and Nutty, who as different from each other as chalk and cheese, but get along famously. Things change with the arrival of a dance teacher and the antics of a friend called Bobby. “Through dance, we explore the complicated relationship between father-daughter and discover the true meaning of Jannat,” explains Trishla. The play has been co-directed by Shashank Vishnu Dutt.
Trishla, who’s been in the theatre field for the past two decades now, isn’t acting in any of the plays she is directing. “I love acting but I’m too scared to act in a play that I’m directing,” she smiles, adding that she doesn’t mind doing that if it’s a monologue.
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