HERO, directed by Ajinkya Mane,which premeired at Thespo 17.
Your favourite 'adda' to see a play
Prithvi Theatre
Your favourite playwright
Badal Sirkar
Your favourite play-character
Bhagwan from Manav Kaul's IlHAAM
A play you would like to see filmed. Why?
I'd rather let a play be a play.
A novel/short story you would like to see on stage? Why?
I would like to see one of Italo Calvino's short-stories from 'Numbers in the Dark' on stage. It is amazing how in a short story, sometimes as concise as two pages, Calvino manages to shake one's idea of life and create an alternative concept as real as life itself. It would be magical if someone manages to do that on stage.
The most hilarious play you have seen
HAMLET - THE CLOWN PRINCE, directed by Rajat Kapoor
An important play (but ignored)
SHIVAJI UNDERGROUND IN BHIMNAGAR MOHALLA directed by Nandu Madhav
A play character you would like to ''dialogue'' with
Indrajeet from Badal Sirkar's EVAM INDRAJEET
A passage from an important play that you can recite
'Umango bhari umra hai' from Girish Karnad's TUGHLAQ
A play that changed your perception about the theatre
Manav Kaul's PARK
How do you regard the Mumbai theatre scene?
It's new and refreshing. You have new work coming up every year at city festivals such as the Prithvi Festival, the NCPA Centrestage festival, Thespo and Writers Block. You see fresh faces, new opportunities and how Mumbai Theatre is accommodating all of this and still flourishing. Quite a few alternative spaces coming up in the city and it is becoming easier for performers to get interesting platforms and new audience.
Can you think of a foreign production that you found remarkable? Why?
Danny Boyle's FRANKENSTEIN
Your favourite director/actor/music or set designer
Director-Manav Kaul
A significant Indian production that you may have witnessed
Abhishek Majumdar's KAUMUDI and Sankar Venkateswaran's THE WATER STATION
Life in the theatre without the humble batata-wada or the cutting chai... or can you recall the best gastronomic experience you've had in the precincts of the theatre to date?
Have had the privilege to attend various theatre festivals across the country but my favourite would be Lucknow's Repertwahr Festival with the perfect winter weather, warm hospitality, tundey kabab and Mutton Biryani.
Ajitesh Gupta
