Theatre Group Bombay (TGB) is India’s longer running English language theatre group. Formed in 1941by 20 year old Sultan ‘Bobby’ Padamsee. The group has since seen a different generation of spearheads with each passing decade. Deryck Jeffereis, Jean Bhownagary, Adi Marzban set alight the Bombay stage with productions of ‘Othello’ and ‘Salome’. With the tragic passing away of Bobby in 1946, Ebrahim Alkazi, Deryck Jeffereis, Hamid Sayani and Alyque Padamsee took over the stewardship of the group. Legends like Pearl Padamsee, Gerson da Cunha, Vijay Crishna and Sabira Merchant maintained the TG mantra of delivering quality theatre. For more than five decades, the Indian English theatre scene was ablaze with TG productions of ‘Equus’, ‘Candida’ [1955] and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ [1974] among others.
The Headquarters of TG is still Kulsum Terrace in Colaba. Home of Bobby. Yearly AGMs are still conducted around the large horse-shoe table in the drawing room. In times gone by, conventional concept of performance spaces was challenged when plays like ‘The Birthday Party’ were staged there. In its constant bid to innovate, TG created the Terrace Theatre – a performance space built on the patio of Chotu Terrace in Colaba (which was home to the Jeffereis), that could seat a 100 people. Besides these, venues such as Sundarbai Hall, Jai Hind College Auditorium, BEST Hall, etc. were also roped in as staging areas.
TG has been stretching limits and rethinking the tried and tested in almost every sphere of the dramatic world, from staging a frighteningly creative production of Marat/Sade in the St. Xavier’s College Auditorium to being the first production to ever use stage lights.
As it grew, TG attracted young theatrewallahs such as Raell Padamsee, Farid Currim and Ayesha Sayani.
TG’s latest project is to kick start new writing in India. The Sultan Padamsee Playwrighting award has been re-initiatied after a few decades. For more details on the awards please check theatregroupawards.wordpress.com
Thespo was created with the intention that the legendary horse shoe table will always crackle with sparks of drama.
