Manasi finds calling in theatre

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Manasi Parekh Gohil is a familiar face on the small screen, but it is in her latest avatar as a theatre actress that the leading lady of shows like India Calling, Kitni Mast Hai Zindagi and Gulaal is gaining a whole other level of appreciation. The petite, effervescent Manasi has been wowing the theatre-going audience with her rendition of Heli in the play Maro Piyo Gayo Rangoon. An adaptation of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, this musical Gujarati play sees Manasi take on the Bard’s heroine, Helena with aplomb.

Although Manasi had read Shakespeare, she wasn’t too familiar with All’s Well That Ends Well. While many theatre enthusiasts construe Helena today as a manipulative character, Manasi’s rendition of Heli is far sweeter. “Sunil Shanbag, who directed Maro Piyo Gayo Rangoon, made it very easy for me to enact the role,” says Manasi, adding, “Helena is not another damsel in distress; she is determined, not easily discouraged by setbacks. Heli too is passionate about what she wants.”
Of course, Heli’s character could not entirely be devoid of a manipulative strain, given the play’s premise, and Manasi did have to work on depicting that trait. Easier perhaps, were the musical numbers she was required to sing on stage and which she has garnered high praise for. Encouraged by the feedback, Manasi is in fact, working on a music album. Of course, Manasi’s songs in Maro Piyo Gayo Rangoon are actually entire soliloquies set to tune, a challenge to master. “The combination of singing and acting — that too, in front of a live audience — was difficult,” Manasi admits.
The period play, set in the Bombay of the 19th century, is redolent with cultural references of the era, folk music and characterisations that seem at home with the “vintage” set-up. It has also travelled abroad, being presented at the Globe-To-Globe theatre festival in the UK, and Manasi says the response was “phenomenal”.