A-LISTS theatre by david vera
The United Nations of Rafta, Rafta…
The term “star-studded” doesn’t necessarily describe a cast of obscenely paid celebrities on a red carpet. In fact, it might better describe the tireless troupe behind the vivid characters in Jonathan Silverstein’s eagerly anticipated production of Ayub Khan- Din’s Rafta, Rafta…—a tale of young newlyweds who decide to live with the groom’s parents to save some money. Finding that they cannot consummate the marriage behind paper-thin walls, wild comedy is wrung out of the new couple’s tragic circum- stances and new obstacles “pop up” left and right, while the groom’s bait and tackle seems unable to do the same. The result is a witty and warmly relatable comedy about family, both blood-locked and symbolic.
The Rage Monthly had the distinct pleasure of speaking with four talented cast members from what the production team has affectionately called “The mini-United Nations:” Rachid Sabitri, a British-born New Yorker of Moroccan descent who plays Atul Dutt, the groom; Shalin Agarwal, a Miami native of Indian lineage who plays Etash Tailor, Atul’s best friend; Amir Darvish, an Iranian-American who grew up in Boston and plays Jivaj Bhatt, Atul’s boss; and the young Ariya Ghahramani, also of Iranian ancestry, who portrays Atul’s brother, Jai Dutt. “I’m Indian but I came out Cuban!” Laughs Shalin. “One of the things I like about this
play is that it reminds me a lot of my family growing up.” This familiarity seems to be one of the major sources of attraction to this play. “I think the success of this play is the fact that it crosses all kinds of cultures and
borders,” said Rachid. “I imagine that when you come and watch it, you’re going to recognize a member of your family. Not to give too much away, but there’s singing, dancing, fighting, accents, brown people, curry…What more could you want?” Though Rafta, Rafta… is an adaptation of the 1963 Bill Naughton play, All in Good
Time, each character is integral to the plot. “Etash Tailor is Atul’s best friend,” detailed Shalin. “During this big wedding scene, he’s
basically giving inside information on Atul and letting everyone know what he’s like. They share a love of classical Indian cinema. In All in Good Time, my character didn’t even exist. Part of the struggle was to make him active and alive. Luckily, Jonathan’s been really great about creating this character out of the little that’s written about him. That, and I sing a classical Indian song to serenade Atul. I had to learn a lot of inflections that aren’t really, uh, normal in the way we sing.” Though building a role from the ground up is a daunting task for any actor, Rafta’s lead also faced challenges, not the least of which were, “…convincing myself that I’ve got erectile dysfunction. (laughs) Atul gets quite desperate during the play, and so his actions make him not-the-most-likeable-of-characters. What’s interesting for me is trying to find this fine line of giving the audience a bit of what this guy was like before and showing that the way that he’s reacting is just a byproduct of the situation—so that we can feel some sympathy for him. It’s about him growing up and dealing with these adult situations. That’s the biggest challenge: swaying a bit of empathy for the character, because what’s written in the script is the action, not the subtext. I just kind of lucked out that the director liked the direction I wanted to go with it. So it’s nice, for a change…as opposed to, ‘NEXT!’”
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RAGE monthly | APRIL 2011
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