The setting is a dim, minimalist stage where director Thomas Novachek (played by Sumedh Sarojini) is conducting auditions for the lead role of Wanda von Dunayev for his play, Venus in Fur, based on the 1870 novel by Austrian writer Leopold Sacher-Masoch. He has called it a day and is about to pack his bags, when a certain Vanda Jordan (played by Pooja Kshatriya) makes a dramatic entry on the thunderous evening. Scatterbrained and clumsy, Vanda is not even remotely like the leading lady Thomas has visualised. However, she convinces him to allow her an audition. As soon as she starts reading the script, Vanda transforms, into an assertive, dominant, outrageously desirable woman. She becomes Wanda.

Last week, Pooja Kshatriya accidentally cut Sumedh Sarojini’s neck while rehearsing the play’s climax