The long-forced furlough of the pandemic had left actors itching for a return to the hallowed grounds. “I am myself stepping on the stage after three and a half years,” Aggarwal tells us. The director will take to stage to perform a portion from Renee Taylor’s hit Broadway play, Lovers and Other Strangers.

Raghav Aggarwal

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

Why pick these plays, we ask, and he replies instantaneously: “Life should be thrilling.” Aggarwal quips, “It is a lot about permission, what we can and cannot do in life, and where our imagination can take us.” Understandably, since Aggarwal and his team are practitioners of the Meisner technique, this performance might just be the right proof of their evolution as actors. For the audience, this simply means an explosive combination of realism and emotional expression.

Comedy seems to be a theme running through the production. The performances begin with the third act of Neil Simon’s comedy, The Plaza Suite, to wrap up with the final act from Chandrasekhar Phansalkar’s uplifting piece.

The answer, the director says, is in the fifth piece. The act from Phansalkar’s Tax Free revolves around a blind man joining an exclusive club for the blind. “Society has a conventional perception of what blind people can or cannot do. It is about how these people break that permission, and then, have all sorts of fun,” he shares.

Fun is something audiences desperately need to start their month on the right note. With the venue set at the heart of Mumbai’s performing arts hub, it might be the right place to pick up some skills as well as a life lesson or two. 

On: Today, 8 pm; April 2, 10 pm
At: Veda Factory – Art Studio, Aram Nagar, Versova, Andheri West
Cost: Rs 300 onwards
Log on to insider.in