Jagriti Theatre is set to stage the award-winning play, “The Interview”, this month. “The Interview” is directed by Akarsh Khurana the prolific producer and director who has won two Best Director awards at Thespo. The playwright Siddharth Kumar has been a professional actor for the last seven years. He has also directed two plays: “Damages” by Steve Thompson and “The Shape of Things” by Neil LaBute. “The Interview” was also chosen for Hot Ink at the Lark, a festival of new writing in New York, and Siddharth was one of ten writers from across the world to attend it.
In the play, a bright young man is at an interview for a job in one of the country's largest corporations. But nothing he learnt in college, university or his last few jobs has prepared him for what comes next — perhaps the most unusual and challenging hour of his life. But he's keen to make it through this. After all, it is a job to die for.
“The interviewer asks some very personal questions. The young man finds himself stuck in office politics. Little elements of corporate life come into play. Being stuck in the middle of a cross fire, he tries to find a way out,” explains Akarsh. “The Interview” was first staged in Mumbai in November 2010. and since then has been performed in Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi and Muscat. It is for the first time, though, that “The Interview” is going to be performed continuously for a month. “We are looking forward to performing at Jagriti. We hardly ever get to run multiple shows in Mumbai, due to a lack of rehearsal spaces. So, this is an opportunity for us to perform more efficiently.”
Jagdish Raja, Co-Founder and Development Director at Jagriti, is all praise for the director, playwright and the talented group of actors. “It's quite fitting that a play, a dark comedy about the corporate world is being staged in Bangalore, especially at Jagriti, surrounded as we are by tech parks and office complexes. Even more delightful that this is an original Indian play in English, written by a 20-something-year old and produced by a young company, which is also possibly the most prolific company in India today. We're really looking forward to having them here.”
The cast includes Adhir Bhat, Adhaar Khurana, Karan Pandit, Kashin Shetty and Prerna Chawla. “The Interview runs at Jagriti” till February 26, Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. Tickets are priced at Rs. 300 and are available at www.bookmyshow.com or at the Jagriti box office. For details or tickets call 41242879.
