What pulls theatre director Sunil Shanbag to satire?

India Today

a day ago

(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated August 11, 2025)In a tiny, sparse studio in Versova with no props and sets, theatre director Sunil Shanbag is busy imagining first-century Rome. There's some neighing and galloping, a bit of singing, and excitable parents who want to marry their daughter off to a horse. Shanbag watches, giving directions to actors like Akash Khurana and Neil Bhoopalam on entry and exits, bringing to life Hungarian playwright Julius Hay's The Horse.advertisementIt's a play that has stayed with him since he first read it in 1982. When Aadyam, an initiative of the Aditya Birla Group, approached him to develop a play for its seventh season, Shanbag found himself returning to the political satire which, as per the synopsis, offers an 'unsettling look at ambition, delusion, herd mentality, and the absurd circus of power'. 'One had to look for a play that allows scale and still lets you explore ideas,' says Shanbag. Only, he had misplaced the book amidst many house moves. Little did Shanbag know that finding the text and acquiring its rights would be an adventure in itself, taking him on a virtual journey from a bookstore in Spain to Oxford to Los Angeles, and finally culminating at a second-hand bookshop in a small town in British Columbia, Canada. It's here he'd get a lead to Hay's son, Peter, who had translated the play into English and from whom he'd finally obtain the rights. 'He was happy that we had made this effort,' says Shanbag.
PULL OF SATIRE: Julius Hay's The Horse looks at the 'absurd circus of power'
Transporting audiences to significant events and different periods and compelling them to think is what Shanbag himself has been doing for nearly five decades now with his company, Arpana. Plays like Sex, Morality & Censorship, Cotton 56, Polyester 84 and Stories in Song are among the works that have added to the 68-year-old's aura. Shanbag stands out as someone who has used his clout to help others in an industry where survival is a daily struggle. He set up Tamaasha Theatre a decade back to address an urgent need. Says Shanbag, 'I felt that, as Arpana's scale grew, spontaneity and impulsive exploration were becoming difficult. I was also uncomfortable with not having a relationship with the audience. The idea was to build a system where a connection could be built.' Producing plays under the banner of Tamaasha has allowed Shanbag to do that with works like Same, Same, but Different, which while low on scale, are heavy on ideas. With Studio Tamaasha, an alternative space in Mumbai, he has given a platform to theatre practitioners to showcase their work. 'It's a lot easier for someone like me to make a play; we have built a corpus and have a standing. But it's hard for a young theatre practitioner even today to make a play,' says Shanbag. 'Those who have a body of work need to step up and create support systems for young theatre creators.' In addition, for the past two years, Shanbag has headed Us Paar, a residency for creators in Kashid, Maharashtra, which has given a refuge to many theatre groups, and now even artists, to create new works.
Amidst it all, Shanbag remains prolific. His 2024 work Barricade, set in Nazi Germany yet eerily relevant today, continues to have shows. Still, he admits being seized by 'more and more self-doubt. There's an inner turmoil of anyone who creates stuff. I don't think I have adapted. It's a crisis I will have to confront very soon.' It's perhaps this insecurity that compels him to create, to carry on, to get out of the bubble. With The Horse, he gets to do exactly that. 'It's important to occupy the mainstream space,' he says. Only, in Shanbag's case, the mainstream isn't just playing to the gallery, but intellectually engaging it.advertisementSubscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends