The Art of Numbers

Acclaimed British Theatre group Complicite’s award-winning play A Disappearing Number that explores the mysterious mathematical collaboration between two experts


Two years ago when Sanjna Kapoor, Director of Prithvi Theatre, saw British Theatre group Complicite’s acclaimed play A Disappearing Number, she was completely floored by the unusual concept and exceptional production values. This magical production takes as its starting point the story of the most mysterious and romantic mathematical collaborations of all times - that of our mathematical genius Srinivas Ramanujan and his English counterpart and mentor G. H. Hardy.

The award-winning play premiered in the United Kingdom in 2007 and has subsequently been staged in various parts of the world. It features British and Indian actors born in the UK.

The moment Kapoor saw the play, she knew it had to be staged in India. “It moved me to tears. I wanted to bring it here because it featured Ramanujan and had an Indian connect. But I also knew it would be too difficult to raise the money. For two years, I tried hard to throw out the idea from my head.” Finally earlier this year, a professor from Tata Institute Of Fundamental Research requested her to bring down this play to India to coincide with the International Congress of Mathematicians held for the first time in Hyderabad in August.

The British Council also showed a keen interest in the play and following several months of activity, A Disappearing Number will finally be staged in Mumbai at Jamshed Bhabha Theatre on August 9, 10 and 11.

According to Kapoor, the play gives out the message that man can achieve far greater goals through collaboration. The story about a young Indian genius and an elderly British mathematical expert touches on serious topics with playfulness and encourages a spirit of curiosity. It perceives maths as a form of art and explores its unique connection with theatre. “When we plan to bring down any foreign production to India, we focus on three main issues. Firstly, there should be no compromise on the production values, secondly it should provide a supreme experience to the audience and thirdly it should make people curious about theatre,” says Kapoor.

This is not the first time that Prithvi Theatre is bringing down a play from Complicite. They had earlier staged noted litterateur William Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure in 2005. What has prompted Kapoor to bring down the acclaimed group’s plays in India repeatedly is to familiarise the Indian audiences with their productions. “Complicite is one of the top five theatre groups of the world and the finest example of British culture. I had first heard about it from my aunt actress Felicity Kendall 12 years ago. I went and met them. They were supposed to come down for our festival in 2000, but that didn’t happen. I had first seen their play An Elephant Vanishes, a Japanese play, in 2003 which was magical.”

In 2008, Prithvi Theatre was very close to staging A Disappearing Number in Mumbai. But the company abandoned the project following the 26/11 terror attacks in the city.

Prithvi Theatre has also organised a series of programmes till the first week of August as a precursor to the play. It’s celebrating Maths Month with a host of films, music performances and workshops based on the subject. In collaboration with the British Council, it also organised a unique interdisciplinary science and drama five day workshop called as Hive Mind Project. Led by mathematician Victoria Gould, who has also worked with Complicite, it brought together school teachers and students and explored how the world we live in is governed by mathematical principles. It has also organised a Maths Mela, which travels across schools and colleges across the city and includes a maths lab, film screenings, animation, live performances comprising readings, juggling and games.

Adam Pushkin, Head of Arts and Creative Industries, British Council, said, “We conceptualised and started working on this concept since last November. Maths is usually perceived as a serious subject. The whole idea was to energise students and young people, make them look at maths as a fun subject by exploring concepts in our daily lives.”