It's a room full of actors engaged in crazy banter. Except for a few props that lie scattered, there is nothing else to suggest that they are rehearsing for an upcoming play. We ask about the script, and they look at each other, confidently clueless. We ask about the characters, and they return the question with a smug look. They don’t have dialogues in place, and neither do they have the plot in mind. Yet, when the director calls out ‘action’, they put up a show of knowing everything they just denied. In the next one hour, the group of seven audacious actors successfully pulls off a comical detective play that even has this writer in splits. “That’s what improvisation is about,” says theatre actor Yogesh Upadhyaya.

Actors from Improv Comedy Mumbai rehearse a murder mystery, which will be the premise for their next act at the NCPA. Pics/Bipin Kokate