We read this play a couple of years ago. The team liked it, but since the team involved two permanent and a few odd temp members floating in and out, we did nothing about this play. Now with a 30 odd team consistently churning out plays, we decided to try one for the uber urbane crowd. But then again, this is usually the crowd we cater to, consciously or otherwise.
Interestingly, Azadeh Mirzaei, one of our group members and a theatre arts student was part of the direction team for Woody Allen’s “God” in Persian. That is correct. In Persian. Yes I’m positive. Yes for real. Woody Allen. God. In Persian. Moving on…
She was keen to direct this play with Samahaara actors in English. An unfortunate and bitter truth that Azi, as we call her, could not digest is these poor suckers could not speak Persian. I mean, really! Let us cut a long story short and conclude with-Samahaara actors taught Azi Hindi by the end of the grueling 45 days of rehearsals in the May heat. And have gone on to regret that ever since.
God was funny. God had great production values. The costumes were authentic with a little quirky touches. My favorite moments from God: Naren as the gay King wearing a pink fur and worried about his lovely pink nails. Rahul and Prakeerti as the actor/slave and Doris-that chemistry and repartee-hilarious! And oh, Rathna Shekar Reddy the producer as the voice from Heaven. Booming, villainous, perfect!
Directors Azi and Mariam
Producer Rathna Shekar Reddy