Kirti Kumar

I grew up inside one of India's most storied theatre institutions. Selected for the repertoire company at Shriram Centre for Performing Arts in New Delhi, I spent years training and performing across 50+ productions — working under directors shaped by RADA and the National School of Drama, including Feisal Alkazi and Girish Karnad. I performed at the Panna Bharat Ram Theatre Festival, trained in classical and folk theatre, and led voice workshops for incoming students. That building taught me what it means to make theatre seriously, consistently, and in service of an audience.

I also carry a parallel life in technology — computer science engineering, then a Masters in User Experience Design (University of Brighton, 2025). I work as Creative Director for a London-based immersive studio. This isn't separate from my theatre. It's the reason I think about audience experience as something you design, not just hope for.

I am developing a practice at the intersection of verbatim theatre methodology and digital performance systems. This work asks a specific question: if verbatim theatre's power lies in its fidelity to lived experience, can emerging technologies — motion capture, projection, spatial computing — offer new dimensions of that fidelity rather than replacing it?

With support from Arts Council England's Developing Your Creative Practice fund, I am undertaking a 10-month development programme spanning verbatim training, motion capture and virtual production, immersive spatial audio, and a performance lab integrating all three.

The aim is not a single production but a methodology — a reusable framework I am calling Digital Bodies — for creating documentary performance that is technologically literate without being technologically dependent.