Attend the reading of Gieve Patel's plays featuring some original cast members at this gallery in Fort

Pearl Padamsee and Roger Pereira during the rehearsals for Savaksa in 1982. Pics Courtesy/Avaan Patel

Some names are just a natural fit in the context of literature. For years, this writer would find the name of Gieve Patel alongside his peers like Arun Kolatkar, Eunice De Souza, Dom Moraes or Nissim Ezekiel in the course literature of Indian English studies. It turns out, so did Avaan Patel.

The daughter of Gieve Patel, and a theatre maker herself, recalls with humour, "I would often have students in school tell me about dad's poems that were part of the ICSE syllabus. I would often think, ‘I hope I don't have to study it.' I love the poems, but at that age, one doesn't always want to study your parents' work." Time changes everything, they say. Tomorrow, the director will join some members of the original cast of the plays, Princes and Savaksa, in a dramatic reading at the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation Gallery in Fort.

(From left) Etchings of Nosherwan and Meher Jehangir by Gieve Patel

The plays will be read in the same space that hosts Patel's exhibition, A Show of Hands: In Memoriam: Gieve Patel. "I grew up with all of these worlds around me. I was 10 years old when we started rehearsal on Savaksa. I would help the cast learn the lines," the actor-director tells us. The reading will include Princes and Savaksa. The first play earned him the Sultan Padamsee award.

Gieve Patel (left) and Sabira Merchant in Mary Stuart, directed by Gieve's wife, Toni Patel

The choice of being a theatremaker was a natural progression, then. She admits, saying, "For me, the sound and rhythm of the language was very important. It was something I learnt being surrounded by poets, actors and directors, including my mother [Toni Patel]."

The language is also what Meher and Nosherwan Jehangir found striking in the works by Gieve. "It was deliberately crafted to suit the purpose of the plays," shares Nosherwan. He should know. Aside from being actors, Nosherwan and Meher taught language, speech and drama for over four decades at the Jehangir School of Speech and Drama at Nana Chowk. Meher adds, "Over the years, we often worked on excerpts of Savaksa and Mr Behram [directed by Toni] with our senior students for Trinity [Guildhall London]. The examiners from London were very intrigued."

Meher and Nosherwan Jehangir in the play, Mister Behram

In 1982, the duo was still in their late 20s and starting out. "We first played it 43 years ago at Max Mueller Bhavan, under Pearl's [Padamsee] direction," Meher recalls. Prod them on the memories, and they share that Gieve was often balancing work as a practising doctor, artist and playwright simultaneously.

Nosherwan Jehangir and Roger Pereira in a moment from Savaksa

Daughter Avaan adds, "I was in my 10th standard when he was working on Mister Behram. He would write at 3 am in the morning. The rest of the day would be taken up by the clinic and his painting. He would do all of this within the course of the day with no sense of outward stress."

Nosherwan and Meher Jehangir

Each of his facets informed the other art, they say. Nosherwan points to the motif of eczema present in Savaksa. A couple of etchings of Meher and Nosherwan by Gieve, during the rehearsals give further proof of this observant nature. "This happened all the time. Sometimes he would be gazing in the distance at someone. ‘I am studying a face. I might use it in a painting,' he'd say," she recalls.

Avaan Patel

This moment of pause and recollection might return as the cast comes together. They will be joined by names such as Persis Mistry, Conan Pereira among others. "I suppose us and Roger Pereira are among the few members from the original cast left. It was a wonderful time in the city," Meher recalls with a nostalgia that visitors might have a chance to experience once again.

ON May 7; 6 pm
AT JNAF Gallery, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Fort.