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Dance Like a Goddess: Mahesh Dattani & Saba Zaidi Abdi on Theatre, Politics, and Diaspora in Australia

This episode features playwright-director Mahesh Dattani and Sydney-based creative powerhouse Saba Zaidi Abdi discussing Dattani’s new play Dance Like a Goddess, premiering in Sydney this August.

They reflect on their creative journeys: Dattani’s path to theatre through movement and “rasa,” and Abdi’s decades of work across theatre, television, and film, including collaborations with Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal, before turning to why theatre’s live, “perishable” nature matters.

The conversation explores how art is inherently political, addressing majoritarianism, the appropriation of religion for political gain, caste, and the suppression of dissenting voices, themes central to Dance Like a Goddess and why it is being staged in Australia.

They also discuss diaspora audiences, the pull of Bollywood entertainment, and the need for thought-provoking theatre and training through workshops on acting, craft, and scriptwriting.

Workshop and event details are shared, including an actors workshop, a Macquarie University master class/Q&A on 17 July, and performances on 1–2 August at The Playhouse at NIDA.

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00:27 Guest introductions
16:41 Finding your artistic voice
20:56 Art & politics
29:12 Dance Like a Goddess: the play
32:35 Theater, religion & culture
36:23 Workshops & training
46:53 Show dates & cast shoutouts

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