A Glimpse Behind the Moon with Anosh Irani
iPhoto caption: Vik Sahay and Ali Kazmi in Anosh Irani's Behind the Moon - original photo by Cylla von Tiedemann. Overlaid on the image is Anosh Irani's picture.
Anosh Irani likes to write about restaurants. His debut novel The Cripple and His Talismans had a call back to The Lucky Moon, a neighbourhood eatery where he hung out as a teenager. His 2018 play The Men in White, which premiered at Factory Theatre, is partially set in a Vancouver Indian joint. And his latest work, Behind The Moon — which just premiered at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre — unfolds in a Toronto Mughlai eatery.
The Vancouver-based artist’s new piece follows Ayub (Ali Kazmi), an illegal immigrant from India working as a cook under the watchful eye of his boss Qadir Bhai (Vik Sahay). One night after closing, a cabbie named Jalal (Husein Madhavji) arrives, pleading for food. What unfolds is a story of faith, loss, and brotherhood, told through the lens of three very different Indo-Canadian life experiences.
I caught up with the celebrated scribe to chat about literary formats, strange characters, and achieving immortality through writing.
Chris Dupuis: What was your starting point for Behind The Moon?
Anosh Irani: My plays have strange trajectories in terms of how they evolve. My 2019 play, Buffoon, began as a commission in 2005. I’d wanted to write a circus play; it was originally called Manja’s Circus and had a cast of seven. It turned out fine and I was even offered a production by a theatre company, but something told me to wait. It was the clown in the play. He demanded his own show. He walked out of the play. That’s how I realized it was a solo. Fifteen years later, it ended up on stage as a one-person show.
With Behind the Moon, one of the characters from The Men in White kept haunting me. Ayub is a version of that character and I was extremely interested in his inner life: Why did he come to Canada? Who did he leave behind? Does he sleep well at night? What does he dream of? I wrote a short story about him (also called Behind the Moon), which was published in the Los Angeles Review of Books. The deeper I dug, the more [Ayub] revealed himself. Until, eventually, he showed up on stage, cleaning the glass counter of the restaurant he works in. If characters refuse to leave me, I just follow them. And listen.
You’ve written plays, novels, and short stories. Do you know the final form something will take when you start? Or is it something you figure out through the process?
Some stories arrive in a particular form and they’re never anything else. Buffoon started out as a circus play and became a one-man show. But it was always for the stage. On the other hand, The Matka King (Irani’s first play, written in 2003) began as a short story called “Bullet No.1.” But after the story ended, the main character continued to speak, and he was doing so in front of an audience. I realized he was dictating a monologue for the stage.
Most of your works have been set in Mumbai, your hometown, or Vancouver, where you currently live. This is the first thing you’ve written that unfolds in Toronto. Why did you want to write about a place where you’ve never lived?
The first reason was the weather. Ayub’s isolation gets more intense due to the extreme cold. He doesn’t understand it. It paralyzes him emotionally. I wanted this man who comes from Bombay, where it’s sunny all the time, to experience cold, dark winters, emotional winters, just physical ones.
The second reason is there was this Indian restaurant in Toronto where I used to eat. It’s exactly the kind of place where Ayub works. I would sit and make notes, and I just envisioned him there, lost, staring into the distance.
What’s the difference between writing a character for the page versus the stage?
It’s actually not that different. I always try to understand the inner lives of the characters before I worry about plot. Novels have tremendous interiority; they’re a means of reflection and meditation. Plays, on the other hand, demand that one moves in a trajectory. There’s a sense of doom that the characters are moving towards. At least, that’s the way it feels when I write.
In an interview you did a few years ago, you mentioned that you’re excited by the strangeness of certain characters, meaning you don’t understand their motivations. Are the characters in Behind the Moon strange?
Yes, absolutely. If I understand them perfectly, there’s no discovery. No investigation. I need to dig and dig, until I uncover something, some meaning behind their actions and words. With Behind The Moon, they’re strange in that they’re wounded in different ways.
Anosh translates as “Immortal.” Is there a connection for you between writing and immortality?
I have no interest in immortality. I really don’t care if my work gets read after I’m dead. What matters to me is the moment. In this moment, can I find some truth? Can I move the audience? Can I dent their consciousness in some way? If my work stands the test of time, so be it. If not, I won’t be here anyway.
Anosh Irani’s Behind the Moon, directed by Richard Rose, runs at Tarragon Theatre February 21 – March 19, 2023.
Chris Dupuis
Chris Dupuis is a nomadic writer/creator/curator originally from Toronto.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photo by Colton Curtis Photography.
Genny Sermonia sweetens the pot as choreographer of Waitress
When Genny mentions that her brother Julius is part of the ensemble, I smell a story cooking — so I attend a rehearsal at the Grand Theatre to watch the duo in action.
iPhoto caption: Miriam Fernandes as the Storyteller, with Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu as Arjuna and Neil D'Souza as Krishna in Why Not Theatre’s Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, 2023). Photo by David Cooper. Set design by Lorenzo Savoini, costume design by Gillian Gallow, lighting design by Kevin Lamotte, projection design by Hana S. Kim.
For the creators of Why Not Theatre’s Mahabharata, nothing is more contemporary than an ancient epic
“I’ve been [telling] the company to embrace time as a collaborator,” says director Ravi Jain ahead of the show’s April run at Canadian Stage.
iPhoto caption: L to R: Louise Duff (Ruth), Meg Farhall (Mrs. Bradman), Corrine Koslo (Madame Arcati), Tyrell Crews (Charles), and Christopher Hunt (Dr. Bradman) in Blithe Spirit at Theatre Calgary. Photo by Trudie Lee.
At Theatre Calgary, Corrine Koslo returns to the role of Madame Arcati after 20 years away
“I’m still flying around a bit but I’m not, you know, leaping six feet into the air and things like that,” says Koslo. “And I don’t need to. Then, I did. That was who I was and that’s who I brought to the table.”
iPhoto caption: Photo courtesy of the CBC.
As the trade war rages on, CBC’s PlayME stays true to its mandate of platforming Canadian writers
“I think all five of these shows really help us plant a stake in saying who we are as Canadians,” says PlayME co-creator Chris Tolley.
Alan Cumming and Ari Shapiro promise to hold nothing back in thoughtful but naughty cabaret
“Cabaret is like a smorgasbord,” says Cumming ahead of the show's engagement at The Rose in Brampton. “You can turn on a sixpence. [It’s about] shocking you with the extremes of what might happen. I think we certainly live up to that.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Jennifer Rowsom
Q&A: Playwright-performer Kelly Clipperton on his new ‘one-man-lady-cabaret’ show
Let’s Assume I Know Nothing, and Move Forward From There offers a look at grief, joy, and the unexpected lessons that accompany personal transformation.
iPhoto caption: I Don't Even Miss You photo by Eden Graham.
Factory Theatre welcomes new audiences with shows that explore human connection
“I feel like I’m really looking to theatre for joy right now,” says artistic director Mel Hague. “I don’t mean works that are specifically funny or happy. I’m talking about something deeper where you can feel connected to the art on stage, the space that’s hosting it, the other people in the audience, and yourself.”
iPhoto caption: Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.
Roberto Zucco marks a new era in Buddies’ history of queer theatre
Toronto theatre can be a bit risk-averse. Artistic directors, constrained by limited funding, program obvious crowd-pleasers over boundary-pushing experiments. Playwrights, afraid to ruffle feathers, create spaces that validate the public’s...
iPhoto caption: Image courtesy of SummerWorks.
How SummerWorks confronts a theatre industry steeped in hustle culture
“As far as our sector goes, there’s this idea that how busy you are is a reflection of your values,” says director-dramaturg Harri Thomas. “We also tend to emphasize a person’s career over the body of work they’ve produced. There are certain things that we can do at a community level, particularly when it comes to resource sharing. But we also need to consider the fact that we operate in a scarcity environment where we’re so focused on individual shows that we often neglect the larger ecology.”
Director Hillar Liitoja was ‘pathologically uncompromising’ in his pursuit of great art
His creations brought together all the joy and terror and beauty and chaos of being alive.
"Nightlife trends come and go," says witzel. "But there’s no reason a queer party space can’t be a creative site as well as a way to fund art."
‘It’s Definitely Worth the Trip’: In Conversation with The 39 Steps at County Stage
The two-time Tony-winning story will see its first ever site-specific outdoor production, courtesy of the County Stage Company.
Comments