Theatre’s guitar man

Hyderabad: From giving life to the uncertainty that plagues Anne Frank to the hopes of Bhagat Singh’s fiancé for the revolutionary’s return, the city theatre group, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, has a special weapon on stage, original music. And the man behind this is Alok Kesarwani.

“I love it. I love enabling the actors emote on stage,” says Alok, also an actor with the group.

For The LCM’s upcoming play, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alok’s composition is a take off from a traditional Jewish song. “It is a song of celebration, but my version is a musical interpretation of the emotions that the girl goes through. There is sorrow and uncertainty in her life and that’s what plays in the track,” he explains.

While he has worked on nine plays, one particular play took a lot more from him musically. “When we staged the life and journey of Bhagat Singh, I composed eight tracks for it. All the tracks reflected the phase that the revolutionary was in. My favourite of these was when I composed music for lyrics written by Piyush Mishra; it was a beautiful song about the wait and hopes of the fiancé of Bhagat Singh. The play began with the song, therefore, setting the tone for the whole play,” he recalls.

Eight tracks for a play is a monumental task even for most professional musicians, but to Alok music is natural. “When I was a kid of around four-five, I would walk around with a cricket bat, imitating a guitar, whenever I heard music. My mom noticed that and tried to give me as much exposure to music. But it was expensive. However, fortunately, music for me happened naturally.”

Like most theatre artistes, Alok looks at the stage as a platform for films. “I would like to compose for movies some day. But right now, I am sharpening and fine-tuning my skills with theatre,” he says.