It Is What It Is
June 2025
Multimedia & Technology Designer
An immersive multimedia theatre performance about making art in absurd times.
“It Is What It Is” is a play that’s trying to make sense of itself. A deeply personal journey into the absurdity of being alive—where thoughts become characters, walls speak, time bends, and silence grows louder. It’s a story about trying. Failing. And trying again. About creating something real in a world that keeps slipping through your fingers, all while wondering: "अगर दरवाज़ा हमेशा बंद रहे, तो क्या वो दीवार बन जाता है?" (If a door is always closed, does it become a wall?)
This one-of-a-kind performance blends text, movement, immersive projections, music, and a touch of creative madness to explore what it means to be alive, to make art, and to question everything—including why you just opened the fridge when you weren’t even hungry.
The play is written, directed and performed by Akhshay Gandhi, with multimedia and technology design by Gaurav Singh Nijjer.
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Akhshay and I began working on this project in March 2024, when he reached out with the seed of an idea—a script-in-progress, full of questions and half-formed provocations. We spent time together, not rushing toward a product, but playing. Testing the boundaries of our own practices. Letting the process take the lead. What came out of those early days was less a plan and more a rhythm—something between text, movement, video, and interruption. Video becomes another performer in this solo performance, interacting with the body as energy, information and memory. With live camera, kinetic typography, handdrawn illustrations and footage from an older version of the performance – the media doesn’t sit behind; it breathes alongside. The piece blends light, projection, sound, and presence—but not as layers. They respond to each other. The performing body is central here—not as a stable form, but as a site of change, reaction, glitch, resistance.
Creative Team
Writer & Director: Akhshay Gandhi
Media & Technology Design: Gaurav Singh Nijjer
Sound & Music Design: Pratyay Raha
Assistant Director & Dramaturg: Shreeda Patel
Production Manager: Prashant Tiwari
Creative Producer: Anita Gandhi
Creatives: Rohit Bhasi (Indigoranges)
Stage Manager: Ajay Kshatriya
Light Design: Arun D T
Production Support: Nikhil Bansal, Shivam Vig, Robbie Abraham
Akhshay Gandhi (Writer, Director and Performer ) is a theatre artist and facilitator trained at SITI Company (NYC), Odin Teatret (Denmark), and Indian Ensemble (Bangalore). He has performed and presented work at institutions like Stanford, UCLA, and Odin Teatret. He is a TEDx speaker and recipient of the Tata Scholar Grant and BITSAA 30u30 award.
Gaurav Singh Nijjer (Multimedia and Technology Designer) is a theatre-maker, designing and creative technologist working at the intersection of live performance and tech. A Chevening Scholar and German Chancellor Fellow, he trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is one-half of the Indian performing arts collective Kaivalya Plays.
Pratyay Raha (Sound & Music Designer) is a sound artist and researcher interested in ecological themes, field recordings, and acoustic ecologies. He holds an MA in Composition from the University of Limerick and is pursuing a PhD at RMIT University, Melbourne. He also composes and performs as a singer-songwriter.
Shreeda Patel (Assistant Director and dramaturg) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller and Drama School Mumbai graduate (2024). She has worked across film, theatre, and immersive performance, including projects like The Curious Incident…, @KattaQueen, and Army of Waiters.
Anita Gandhi (Creative Producer) is a creative producer with an MBA in finance, known for her work in supporting marginalized artists, curating festivals, and managing theatre productions. She thrives in multi-tasking roles ranging from logistics to artist hospitality and financial management.
Prashant Tiwari (Production Manager) is a theatre artist and actor trained in classical text and Shakespeare. He has studied at SCOT, SITI Company, Shakespeare & Co., and RCS, and collaborates across disciplines to produce live performances.
Rohit Bhasi (Publicity and Design) is a self-taught visual artist based in Bengaluru. His work explores ancient myths, folk traditions, and belief systems through a contemporary lens—often with humour and a focus on the human body and performance.
Ajay Kshatriya (Stage Manager) is a stage manager and theatre practitioner who has worked with directors like Abhishek Majumdar and Akhshay Gandhi. From assisting on productions like Kamudi to managing shows like Dum-e-Tasleem, he sees theatre as a space for dialogue and social transformation.
Director's Note
This performance began during a phase of deep questioning—what does it really mean to be an artist, and what is art for? I soon realised that these questions weren’t mine alone; many of my friends, even those not in the arts, were struggling with the same thoughts. That realization pushed me to explore the unarticulated, the invisible, the absurd.
While reading Albert Camus’s essays, the character slowly began to emerge. What followed was a 40-minute untitled non-verbal performance—something that felt like a stepping stone toward a larger, fuller work. That journey has now taken more than three years to evolve into the performance we have today. Along the way, many friends and artists have contributed their time, thoughts, and care. Multiple work-in-progress showings helped shape the piece, and after 11 drafts and the constant support of collaborators, it is finally ready to premiere.
Each element of the performance explores a different dimension of the idea: projections give form to the inner world, sound and music stir emotional memory, and the body and text create the experience of experience itself. Though it may appear as a solo on stage, many hands, minds, and hearts are playing at once to make this possible. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of this journey.
I dedicate this performance to my teacher at SITI Company (NYC), whose presence, guidance, and inspiration have remained with me throughout.
- Akhshay Gandhi
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