About
To stage high-quality ensemble theatre, from international classics to Indian literary works, driven by curiosity and craft rather than commercial constraint.
Motley is one of the finest and most respected theatre companies in India, founded in 1979 by the actors Naseeruddin Shah, Benjamin Gilani and Tom Alter, classmates from the Film and Television Institute of India. Beginning as an itinerant troupe committed to serious ensemble theatre, its flagship first production was Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, staged at Prithvi Theatre in July 1979, and Beckett became synonymous with the group in India. Over more than four decades Motley has produced around fifty plays, many directed by Naseeruddin Shah and his wife Ratna Pathak Shah, ranging from Beckett, Shaw and Ionesco to, from the 2000s, celebrated adaptations in Urdu and Hindustani, above all Ismat Apa Ke Naam based on the stories of Ismat Chughtai.
Motley began with a coffee-shop conversation in Lucknow in 1978 between Naseeruddin Shah and Benjamin Gilani, who resolved to produce plays that made them curious as storytellers, and staged Waiting for Godot in 1979, opening amid a heavy downpour. The group came to include some of India's most thoughtful actors, among them Tom Alter, Ratna Pathak Shah, Kenny Desai and Akash Khurana, and, under the modest motto Dal Roti Motley, built its work bit by bit on limited means but rich storytelling. From largely English-language beginnings it widened its repertoire to Urdu and Hindustani, and its productions such as Ismat Apa Ke Naam and Dear Liar became long-running favourites.
Motley is one of the most important theatre companies in India, a byword for serious, literate ensemble theatre and a major force in Indian English-language and, later, Urdu-Hindustani theatre for over four decades.
[Atlas Perspective] Profiled as an Institution (Operator) in the Theatre field. Motley connects to Indian theatre and to the many distinguished actors associated with it, including Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah and the late Tom Alter, and often performs at Prithvi Theatre.