Crime over drinks

Preparations for their new performance, Liar Liar, began in April with test runs, followed by the first version set at a secret location, a two-BHK apartment in Aundh. The “murder” took place here

I take inspiration from my own life for certain elements of the plots," says Tushar Tukaram Dalvi, Founder and Artistic Director of Rangaai Theatre Company. The company, which started in 2016, specialises in immersive sensory theatre experiences. During the Covid-19 imposed lockdown, they produced #Gargikand, a virtual murder mystery experience premised on a single girl going suspiciously missing, while the dead body of an unknown person is discovered in her apartment. "My would-be wife used to live alone in Pune and I started wondering, what if an independent woman was stuck in a situation like this?" says Dalvi. "How would society look at it? The show's experience was socially-driven where characters blamed her first, only to find out that she was not the perpetrator but a victim. It had two hosts - one male and one female - where the female perspective was supportive of the woman. The realities of the case would come out through this woman's investigation rather than the man's."

Tushar Tukaram Dalvi

Preparations for their new performance, Liar Liar, began in April with test runs, followed by the first version set at a secret location - a 2 BHK apartment in Aundh. The "murder" took place here, and an intimate group of 10-12 members of the audience were invited to solve it.

The company has now expanded the idea to include a supper theatre performance where the audience is invited to solve a murder case by interrogating suspects and witnesses, listening to statements, analysing evidence and clues, and constructing theories with the help of bulky case files with FIR, suspect and witness profiles, and a training officer. All this over food, drinks, and music.

"It is a mix of live performance, where actors give their statements as characters, with escape rooms, treasure hunts, and deduction," says Dalvi, explaining that ideas were borrowed from the formats of role-playing games including Dungeons & Dragons. "Like the dungeon master, here, a senior detective, who knows the ins and outs of the plot, gives the required nudge," he says.

The actors are given the plot and circumstantial information, and asked to work on their characters, developing personalities and mannerisms. "The audience can ask them anything and it cannot be scripted. So the actor has to know everything about their character, his/her relationship with other characters and respond spontaneously," says Dalvi. Rangaai also has other immersive productions, such as their flagship Darkroom project, based on the principles of a photography darkroom.

WHAT: Liar Liar - A Murder Mystery Dinner Party
WHERE: HighSpirits Cafe and Bar, Koregaon Park, Pune
WHEN: July 31, 8.15 PM
FOR: Rs 1,500