A theatre group is reimagining a collection of their online sets — all centred on COVID — for the stage. Expect drama, laughter and feels
Actors rehearse for Covid Or Without You
A struggling actor meets a personified version of Mumbai at an audition. They flirt, and glimpses of how the city changed during the lockdowns spill out. A Gujarati woman rewrites the rules of business when she seizes the pandemic as an opportunity to kick off a mask business. A girl discovers the true colours of her family while being locked in at home with them. These are stories new and old, lived and heard that Akvarious Productions is stringing together for their new show, Covid Or Without You: A Lockdown Revue.
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The production features actors Adhaar Khurana, Avantika Ganguly, Chaitnya Sharma, Kashin Shetty, Keith Sequeira, Lisha Bajaj, Muzammil Qureshi, Rohini Ramnathan and Sarthak Kakar, “provided they test negative”, director Akarsh Khurana asserts. The show is a collection of multiple pieces that the actors performed online through an Instagram page called Akvarious Live during the lockdown. Spanning between six and 12 minutes each, the stories have now been adapted for the stage, woven together with choreography and music. But what happens when any of the actors test positive? “As each actor is performing a different piece, in case someone tests positive, we can work around it,” Akarsh assures us.
Akarsh Khurana
Looking back at their virtual performances, the director notes that it was a stop-gap arrangement to allow actors to continue interacting with the audience. “It was a form of riyaaz. But a healthy dialogue on theatre grew out of it. In fact, some actors started writing their own pieces,” he reveals.
From a musical about the WFH experience to a tale about a couple cooped up together, the pandemic is central to most of the stories. “Four or five of them are in some way romances, and hence, the name,” he chuckles, adding however, that pandemic-related material is losing novelty. “That’s why it was essential to ensure the show projects a lighter side of the lockdown, with funny and heartwarming stories.”
On January 14, 5 pm and 8 pm
At Prithvi Theatre, Juhu.
Log on to in.bookmyshow.com
Cost Rs 300
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