It is a busy morning when actor-director Akash Khurana answers our call. A premiere week can be a jittery one for most playwrights and actors, but the veteran looks to be in good spirits. His three-actor production, The Tragedy of Ham MacLear, is on its first five-day run across the city stage.

“I started to revisit his works during the pandemic of COVID-19, and suddenly found them too familiar,” he admits. This, and the mental health concerns that arose in that period, sparked a re-examination of the works. “As a senior citizen myself, and having done over 40 years of theatre, I thought of the time I’d hang up my boots. For actors, memory is a big thing. It is a key tool upon which our work hinges, and we build on it,” Khurana shares.