Writer and Director: Shashwat Srivastava
Two 17-year-old boys seek refuge in a warehouse in Delhi after killing a gang member. While they wait until things have calmed down, they decide to create content for their social media. Isn’t that what Gen Z do? However, despite the promising start, Shashwat Srivastava’s play soon resembles a showreel.
The two actors bounce onto the stage as they run in unison from the crime scene to the warehouse. Aryaman Krishna Aggarwal and Vrishab Wig are very good dancers, and Vishakha Chakravarty’s tight comic choreography is reminiscent of old Hollywood musicals. It’s an electric start, but unfortunately the next 90 minutes are just full of shouting, as the two friends decide what to do next.
The idea that young people are addicted to curating their lives on social media in return for followers is not a new one. More interesting is Srivastava’s exploration of the nature of stories and myths: how we write our own narratives. There’s a wonderful scene when the two boys run out of ideas and consult a screenplay AI tool to discover how their fates would be handled on film.
Other scenes are not so successful. When Riyan and Tanmay try their hand at stand-up comedy, it’s unclear whether they are meant to be terrible comedians or whether the jokes are simply unfunny. Another skit has them playing video game warriors, and another, prisoners in an interrogation cell. All the scenes outstay their welcome. The digital screens are a nice touch, but the text is too small to read.
Luckily, Aggarwal and Wig have plenty of charisma, and both are indefatigable over the hour and a half, always moving, mostly yelling at each other. Aggarwal’s Riyan is slyly mischievous, eager to make the most of the dire matter, while Wig’s Tanmay is reticent, favouring a more redemptive approach to their troubles. They are a great duo, but some of their lines get lost in the shouting, and at other times their only vocabulary appears to be “Fuck!” and “okay.” At certain points, they struggle to be heard over the music.
Any casting agents in the audience will surely be impressed by the two actors’ versatility, but for a play that is concerned with stories, it’s a shame that Live! From The Warehouse’s own story is so thin.
Runs until 18 July 2026
