Moments from Scene Stealer’s Identities. Pictures by Aranya Sen

As the curtains came down on the October 22 show of Scene Stealer?s Identities, at GD Birla Sabhagar, reunions erupted backstage. It was the time to greet old friends and mentors; after all, Scene Stealers had returned to the city of its birth. The director of Identities, Vivek Mansukhani, is a Calcutta boy who was there when the group was formed in 1985.

?When I first saw the card, I thought someone had stolen our name, then I saw Vivek?s name and I was thrilled!? gushed one of the old members of Scene Stealers. ?In the mid-90s, people began to move away, I myself left to work at the British Council, Delhi. Later I joined the Ford Foundation. But I had carried Scene Stealers with me and we began doing all kinds of theatre under the banner,? said Mansukhani.

Identities is the group?s first original play. ?It happened because we were invited to this theatre festival in January 2005 which demanded that each group presents its own original work. We all agreed that it had to be about something contemporary and Indian, something we could identify with easily. Slowly this play took shape, out of workshops. There is no script and the scenes, dialogue, movement are all in a state of flux, changing and developing with each performance,? explained Mansukhani.

The play begins with a roll of drums as the spotlight gently reveals four characters, one by one. Each is seated on a wrought-iron chair and sports a different colour code ? black, blue, red and white. On seats beside them are more clothes they use in the course of the play. A scarf, a shawl, a sari or a jacket thrown over their basic clothing turns them into other characters.

There are four aspirants to glamour. Zamir Ali (Dhruva Jagasia) lives in a Mumbai chawl and doesn?t look for work because he believes he is destined to be an actor like Om Puri or Naseeruddin Shah. Aleya Singh (Samara Chopra) is an orphan brought up by a Punjabi family who wants to be a jazz singer.

Badhni Sen (Shirin Madan) belongs to a conventional middle-class Bengali family who wants to make it big in Bollywood.

Gaurav Shankar (Daman) can?t speak without a stammer and is the sole breadwinner of an extended family; he wants to use his dancing talent to make it big as a Mumbai choreographer. These four also take turns in illuminating each other?s stories.

There is a fine selection of evocative music and the actors prove their talents in singing and dancing. There is an interesting use of mime, which could have been even more effective had the script been more planned. There is perhaps a little too much slapstick. The way the performance area and the dream zone were suddenly extended by the use of a rotating glass ball illumination went down well with the audience.