Raghav Seth is the Creative Project manager at Kaivalya Plays. He is trained in Western Theatre and is a poet, rapper, and aspiring filmmaker. His first professional play was The Gentleman’s Hourglass in Bengaluru with Runaway Cabaret back in 2019. He has since performed in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Shimla and will be making his directorial debut with The Pillowman, a dark comedy by Martin McDonagh. The show will take place on the 24th and 25th of August at the Stein Auditorium, at the India Habitat Center.
We sat down with him to talk about his work and creative process.
Describe yourself in a sentence.
I’m just a boy full of unexpressed thoughts finding ways to express them.
Raghav Seth
What inspired you to pursue theatre and the arts, and how has your journey been so far?
Theatre is the one thing that has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. I used to be extremely quiet and reserved when I was a child, but the minute I stepped on stage, I became different. The feeling that I could be anything I wanted was empowering and liberating, and in those formative years, it was a crucial realization. I had a tough time in school. Being bullied for many years, I slowly started developing a shell around me. I found myself holding back my thoughts and my feelings. It was then that I found how cathartic theatre can be and used every opportunity to express myself and feel free without fearing what others think.
As for my journey, it started in 2016, at a collegiate level where I studied Theatre Studies, English, and Psychology and it solidified the idea in my head that ‘Yes, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ In 2019, after finishing my undergraduate degree from Christ, Bengaluru, I came back to Delhi and had the privilege of working with two of Delhi’s finest companies: Kaivalya Plays and Ruchika Theatre Group. Having worked under the likes of Feisal Alkazi and Varoon P. Anand, I learned a lot about theatre, the intricacies of directing, the importance of creating a safe space, and what it takes to create theatre.
What fascinates you most about theatre?
As an actor, what fascinates me most is the process of characterization. The possibilities are endless regarding who a character can be and how nuanced a character we can create as actors. I find myself diving deep into my own psyche and internalizing the emotions I’ve felt and how they’ve manifested in my behavior. I find patterns and combinations of how different emotions play with each other to create a third, more complex emotion. I’ve realized that what any character needs is real, internalized emotions and a strong motivation on why they might be feeling this way.
As a director, it’s the ability to observe and guide the process of theatre-making. I’m embarking on my directorial debut with The Pillowman and find myself becoming more observant with each passing day. I have a vision for a scene and so does the actor. How do I navigate the process in a manner where I get what I want and the actor gets what they want? Having observed one of my directors, Feisal Alkazi, for a long time, I learned a lot about this process. The trick is to ask open-ended yet guided questions. A question like what will happen to the scene if the scene is played with X? What I’m doing is setting a vision for the scene as a director and allowing the actor to explore X in as many different ways as they want until we reach a meeting point where the actor and the director are satisfied. To share a funny anecdote, I told one of my actors to try the scene with the mood of a little child with a lollipop in its mouth. Now you might be wondering what it means, but let me tell you, it worked.
You are a poet and rapper as well. How does this contribute to your overall creative expression and influence your work in theatre?
I love this question because it’s something I’ve very recently thought about in depth. If I had to describe it very simply, I’d say it comes down to 3 words for me: Rhythm, Flow, and Movement. These 3 words connect all three art forms.
Think about a poem, divided into verses, each verse having its own identity, rhythm, and emotion tied to it, which ebbs and flows. Rap takes this one step further, with its changing tempos and movements. You could start with a slow intro, start a verse, with ever-changing flows. It builds and builds and finally eases at the chorus before it can pick itself back up in the next chorus and start a whole new movement. Now, you might be thinking, how does this tie in with the other two?
Each scene is designed with changing rhythms, tempo, and emotions. No two scenes are ever written the same, and each scene is written in a way that’s open to interpretation, as is poetry and sometimes even rap. I find myself approaching theatre with a strong sense of musicality.
How do you see the future of theatre and performing arts evolving, especially in the context of digital media?
Evolution in theatre has always been a direct consequence of its immediate circumstances. Think of the revolutions, wars, politics, etc. which brought new styles of plays and how they were performed. In 2020, the theatre went through a digital revolution. Having been forced to take exile within our homes, the question that everyone was asking was ‘Can we still do theatre?’ This resulted in a technological boom, where every theatre company, in its unique way, started adapting and evolving theatre for online spaces. What emerged and continues to be an ever-growing field is multi-media theatre.
We’re always finding new ways to push the boundaries of theatre, whether it be in the context of a play (The Pillowman being a great example), stylization of performance, sound and light design, etc. Having worked closely with Kaivalya Plays, I have seen how projection mapping, live transmissions, and audio-video interactions in real-time with actors can change the conceptualization of simple ideas and add a new dimension to them.
Can you tell us about your latest play, The Pillowman, and what audiences can expect from it?
A writer so immersed in his fantastical writings of gruesome child murders, finds himself facing the consequences of his writings being played out in real life. As the story unfolds, we are taken through the nooks and crannies of the writer’s psyche, building up to an ending that leaves the audience with more questions than answers.
In this rendition of The Pillowman, Kaivalya Plays brings a fresh take on McDonagh’s edge-of-the-seat dark comedy, blending different ideas of storytelling to create a visually stimulating performance.
Words Aliya Anand
Date 20.08.2024