NCPA and Soho's first theatrical collaboration blurs national boundaries

Indian 'drag kings' to take the stage in Mumbai and London in Gentlemen's Club

Almost a decade since Puja Sarup first started playing Shammi Kapoor on stage, she continues to discover mannerisms to add to her performance in the “Gentlemen’s Club”, a cabaret-like comedy show that harkens back to the golden era of Hindi cinema – the 1950s and ’60s.

“His persona is not just about energy, it’s life,” says Sarup, channelling her character with a raised eyebrow, slightly agape mouth, hip swivel, and head bob. Soon, these mannerisms will travel from Mumbai to the UK as part of the first theatrical collaboration between the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and Soho Theatre in London.

After debuting in 2015 and touring across India, the show is being revived after a pandemic hiatus through a partnership between the NCPA and Soho Theatre. Having earlier invited individual comedians such as Zakir Khan, Vir Das and Urooj Ashfaq, “we wanted to find the same success for theatre and scout bold new Indian voices to bring to our stages in London,” says Pooja Sivaraman, creative associate, Soho Theatre.

Though titled after “gentlemen”, this Patchworks Ensemble production is full of cheeky gender-benders. Set in a fictitious underground club in Mumbai, it follows the lives of six drag kings — played by a mostly female cast dressing and acting as men.

Theatre practitioner Sheena Khalid, who conceptualised the show together with Sarup and Vikram Phukan, describes it as “permission to be whoever you want”. The trio chose Shammi Kapoor as the main inspiration for two reasons: Sarup’s resemblance, and the fact that “his masculinity was not typical”. The show’s theme and form are fluid too, changing with every performance, traversing Bollywood’s golden era, drag culture, and politics.

Sivaraman picked the Indian drag king act for this exchange after watching it a few times in Mumbai over 2016-17. “There’s so much queer work that you can access in London, but this is one show where people will get to see performers from India, from Mumbai, exploring this very urban sense of masculinity, Bollywood and comedy, and subverting everything you know about it.” India remains an important English-speaking market for international performers, observes Sivaraman. In previous exchanges, NCPA hosted Soho Theatre-produced comics including Janine Harouni and Olga Koch.

Explorations of gender and identity have unfolded on Indian stages for long, says Bruce Guthrie, head of theatre and films at NCPA. For instance, in 2016, the venue hosted “Shikhandi”, a comic, tongue-in-cheek retelling of one of mythology’s earliest trans characters.

“Gentlemen’s Club was ahead of its time for 2015, and they were talking about subject matters in ways for which the world was not quite ready,” Guthrie says. “Now, I think the world is absolutely ready and crying out for it.” What makes the drag act work, he says, is that “the team is incredibly aware and sensitive to the community, being respectful with very positive humour”.

For their gender-bending production, the show’s co-creators say the idea was to give viewers something to think about without preaching to them. “There is a kind of social commentary when female actors play misogyny. It’s not a straight up comedy,” says Phukan.

The format is experiential; besides following a script, the characters improvise and feed off audience interactions. Among the roster of characters are a Bengali intellectual named Mr 55 (Ratnabali Bhattacharjee), Begum Fida (Sheena Khalid), a drag queen who has seen it all, James Bond in high heels, and a sexist comedian, Vicky Lalwani, also played by Sarup.

However, Shammi Kapoor remains Sarup’s drag muse. Over the years, Gentlemen’s Club performances have put her in front of people who were acquainted with the star. Her favourite anecdote so far is of how Kapoor’s unique demeanour was actually the brainchild of his wife, actor Geeta Bali.

Gentlemen’s Club will be performed at NCPA Mumbai on September 27-28, and at Soho Theatre from October 1 to 12