Rajat Kapoor and Joy Sengupta bring their plays to the Delhi Theatre Festival 2023

Rajat Kapoor (left) and Joy Sengupta

The Delhi Theatre Festival is back this year after a three-year hiatus with it’s fourth edition. The theatre extravaganza from August 4 to 6, is all set to entertain aficionados with the sheer brilliance of live performing arts at the Siri Fort Auditorium, Kamani Auditorium and OP Jindal Auditorium in New Delhi and the illustrious Orana Conventions in Gurugram. Eminent theatre luminaries like Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Piyush Mishra, Lillete Dubey, Shekhar Suman, Vinay Pathak, Shabana Azmi, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and Kanwaljit Singh are a part of the festival.

There is an impressive line-up comprising seven plays, including Ismat Apa Ke Naam, Dopehri, Vodka & No Tonic, Ballimaaraan, Ek Haan, Nothing Like Lear and Kaifi Aur Main. In an exclusive interview, Joy Sengupta and Rajat Kapoor talk about the festival. Edited excerpts:

Vinay Pathak in the play 'Nothing Like Lear'

The Delhi Theatre Festival is back after a hiatus. How important do you think are theatre festivals today?

Rajat Kapoor: Theatre festival is an event to celebrate. We bring different troupes together, encourage the interaction between them and with the audience. I think just like a film festival, theatre festivals have a similar function. Maybe, we can expand to include foreign troupes — and present what is being done not just in other parts of the country, but other parts of the world as well.

Joy Sengupta: Theatre festivals showcase a kind of diversity, which enriches our collective cultural consciousness and theatre specifically is a wonderful stimulating counter to the plethora of digital entertainment which at best makes us culturally lazy and at worst, dumbs us down.

What are you looking forward to the most in the Delhi Theatre Festival? You both will be in a space where you have never performed before.

Rajat Kapoor and Joy Sengupta: So, that is the biggest excitement for us — to discover a new theatre performance space. And then, every time we perform, to interact with the audience during the performance and post the show is something that one always looks forward to.

Joy Sengupta.

What are the most striking features of Vodka & No Tonic?

Joy Sengupta: Vodka & No Tonic is an important and entertaining document of our time, where both personal and social relationships face huge challenges from manmade adversities.

Lillete Dubey in 'Vodka & No Tonic'

Nothing Like Lear is a solo act. What is the most striking feature of this play?

Rajat Kapoor: It's a play that came out of nothing. Slowly over months, the play came into being as we were struggling with the text by William Shakespeare that we wanted to tell as our story. I think what we have done with the text is something that we can be proud of. And then, of course, there is an electrifying performance by Vinay Pathak who engages the audience.

What does the world of theatre need the most today?

Joy Sengupta: Theatre constantly needs to remain intrinsically connected to one's immediate time and environment, communicating the present and timeless concerns of human beings & not try to compete with other mediums.

Rajat Kapoor: Theatre needs more spaces to perform, most of all. And good spaces — not just any auditorium rented out for a performance, but spaces where thought for a theatrical performance has been put in, while building them.

Rajat Kapoor

People say theatre has a niche audience, and no number of films, and no amount of OTT can ever replace theatre — what is your take on this?

Joy Sengupta: To do theatre, you just need your personal voice, communicating ideas that are churning in your head and heart. And that is all; unlike other mediums which need a huge commercial investment to reach the masses and worry about recovering the investment. Naturally, theatre works with more layers and depth and much less compromise and, therefore, has more niche appeal. Also you can do theatre without any support or infrastructure unlike other mediums and, therefore, it is so popular at school and college level for youth participation.

Rajat Kapoor: If theatre had to die out, it would have died many decades ago. No, on the contrary the demand for theatre is growing every year. The joy of watching a live performance can never be replaced by watching something on screen. Theatre has a bright future!