Naseeruddin Shah gets a bitter taste of absurd drama in Bangalore

It was theatre of the absurd at its best in the city. Just as the interest of the audience began to flail a little, towards the end of Act I of the much-awaited star-studded performance of Waiting for Godot at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall, a young lady walked right onto the stage, stood near Pozzo, played by Naseeruddin Shah, and announced that she had been waiting to get her car out of the parking lot for over half an hour. Could the people who had parked their vehicles blocking hers please come out and make way for her to leave?

There was a gentleman on stage with her too, tongue-tied, gawking. But all four actors were struck dumb for a few seconds, and then Naseer, in a huff, arose and announced: “This is not how we are used to performing. I’m sorry, but the rest of this show is cancelled.”

The audience too was unsure of what was happening. For a moment, one wondered if this was some new-fangled version of Waiting... But a lady from the India Foundation for the Arts, organisers of the programme who staged the play to raise funds for their work, came on the stage to announce that this was quite unprecedented, and that they were working to get things back on track.

The actors were back indeed, to wild applause, cleverly weaving the disruption into the script. At the end of the performance, Naseer made a little speech apologising for having lost his cool. “That young lady was quite daring, to come up on stage before a packed house. Perhaps she wishes to be an actor, and could we all give her a round of applause?” Naseer asked, as the audience roared its approval.

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, which premiered on January 5, 1953, is often termed the “most significant English-language play of the 20th century”. It is the story of waiting, not knowing quite surely for whom. The two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, claim Godot for an acquaintance, but know very little about him. In the course of waiting, they must pass time. They talk of repentance, of theology; they are interrupted by Pozzo and his heavily-laden menial, Lucky. The conversation is so insensible, it rings of profundity. And the waiting never ends, Godot does not arrive.

The actors Naseeruddin Shah, Benjamin Gilani, Akash Khurana, Randeep Hooda and Yannick all deserved the standing ovation that they got from Bangalore’s theatre lovers, who pack up city auditoriums each time this play is staged by this cast. Incidentally, the play was staged in the city only a few weeks ago.