Naseeruddin Shah happy to perform in Abu Dhabi again – after 30 years

The actor's new play, Einstein, will make its international debut in the capital.

Naseeruddin Shah as Albert Einstein in Einstein (Courtesy: ADSS / Motley Productions)

Albert Einstein once said: "The greatest scientists are artists as well." If the 20th-century genius were around today he'd probably be amused that his doppelganger is an equally famous Indian movie and theatre artist, who has donned the scientist coat to discuss his triumphs and regrets in a one-man play. With his white, curly mop, Naseeruddin Shah's resemblance to the German-born, Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist is uncanny. Shah's theatre company The Motley Productions' Einstein, a play with humour and poignance in equal measure, has been written by German playwright Gabriel Emanuel. Einstein makes its international debut at the Abu Dhabi Theatre on Thursday, January 28, followed by two shows at Ductac on January 29 and 30.​

Will this be the first time you will be performing in Abu Dhabi?

We actually performed in Abu Dhabi 30 years ago for the production of Arms and the Man. At that time there were no theatres at all in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We performed in boardroom kind of spaces in hotels. So for all practical purposes, this is the first time we are performing in Abu Dhabi.

How did the script for Einstein come to you?

I discovered it in the National School of Drama library when I was browsing around. I don’t think it’s been published in a book form but it’s been published in a theatre magazine. It’s written by Gabriel Emmanuel, a German Jew who lives in Tel Aviv. Einstein’s story resonated with him because the scientist was really troubled by the rise of the Nazi party and went to live in Switzerland, and thenAmerica for the rest of his life. So the story on stage isn’t a dry narration of his theories. The writer has made Einstein’s work accessible to the general audience, put a bit of his childhood, his research work and later on his guilt about the atom bomb into a very simple, sometimes funny monologue.

Theatrical adaptations of the lives of scientists have taken off on screen and stage in the past few years. Why has this suddenly become appealing to audiences?

We are increasingly driven by the habit of deconstructing people without buying into myths. I think it’s a very healthy thing that people who are seen in one dimension only as either great leaders, or great thinkers, they are shown as gullible human beings as well.

Was your physical resemblance to Einstein evident to you before people began pointing it out?

I never knew I resembled him until someone mailed me a photograph of mine touched up with a moustache and that wild hair on Photoshop. I was astounded. But that’s not really the reason I did the play, though I can’t deny that it helped greatly. That is nature’s doing so I don’t take any credit for that. But also, people with such strong features like Einstein are not hard to transform into.

You’ve said you don’t need to understand characters to play them. How do you prepare for a role then?

I don’t mean that one doesn’t do any work at all, what I’m saying is that all the information that you need as an actor is there in the script. And if there are sections of the script which you don’t get, then it’s your job to figure them out and do your study. I am now reading a biography of Einstein, and I am finding it heavy-going I have to say. I didn’t feel I needed to read all his books and his theories before playing him because it would make no sense to me. What is more important is to empathise with the character.

How would you deduce his personality in a few words?

He had his paradoxes. He had the guilt that stayed with him for the creation of the atom bomb, this his role was somewhat ambiguous. He was also a guy who had a way with the ladies.

So the play touches on his regrets?

It talks about the fact that he bitterly resents his research was used for the atom bomb. Because he was Jewish, he was kept out of the Manhattan Project in which a number of German scientists were involved in creating the deadly weapon for America. Whether he wanted to be there or not is unknown. He was a pacifist and he did feel he unwittingly contributed to something that wasn’t being used for good.

Do you have any regrets in life?

I’ve done some pretty bad movies, but no regrets because those movies kept the fires burning. I cringe at a few things in my past but no one forced me to do those things.

What creation in your career are you the most proud of?

What I’m really happy doing for the last 10 years has been working with students. When I see their progress I feel extremely gratified.

What else is in store for you in 2016?

There is a Hindi film, Irada, which is set in Punjab. It is a political thriller about an activist and vigilante. After that I'm going to be mainly involved in theatre for the rest of the year.

• Einstein is at the Abu Dhabi Theatre on Thursday, January 28, and on Friday, January 29, and Saturday, January 30, at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates. Shows start at 8pm. Tickets are from Dh150 on platinumlist.net