Three clowns clad in striped attires, with their red noses on and a mere table in the backdrop may be somewhat difficult to imagine as Shakuntala, Dushyant and Kanva going through extraordinary situations of life in a forest, and later in a royal court. But that's the power of theatre that Rupesh Tillu aims to evoke in Theatreact's new play, Shakuntalam: Agar Pura Kar Paye Toh, which premieres this Thursday.

"Cinema is a director's medium, but theatre belongs to an actor. And I like to put actors at the centre of a production," Tillu tells us. "Visually, our eyes are exposed to so much these days, thanks to films and series like Bahubali, Endgame and Game of Thrones. But theatre sparks people's imagination," he adds, referring to the minimalist set, and a clear departure from the way Shakuntalam, one of India's oldest plays, has been traditionally staged as a costume drama, the idea being to recreate the era in which it is set.