For Rajan Khatiwada, 27, acting as the protagonist in Bagh Bhairab is a constant struggle between being a teenager 500 years ago and the person he is now. Every evening before he goes on stage, he reminds himself to walk into Gyan Bir's skin but even then, he says, "I have to remind myself to remind myself who I am."

For his audience at the Gurukul theatre's rendition of Bagh Bhairab, however, Rajan Khatiwada is Gyan Bir, the potter. A week's rehearsal and nearly a month of performances has polished the rough edges and Gyan Bir grows more convincing with every performance. But learning to be the young shepherd from centuries ago did not come easy for Rajan.

"It took a lot of research and soul searching. We went to the Bagh Bhairab temple in Kirtipur many times and things there are still like they were 500 years ago," he says, "I talked to some older people about my character."

Written by playwright Satya Mohan Joshi, Bagh Bhairab is directed by Sunil Pokhrel and staged at Gurukul nearly every evening. Rajan himself worked on the set design based on the black box technique. But there are other details that he took care of to give the play its essence.

"I had a certain section of the backdrop painted with red mud like in village houses so the subtle hint of smell would add to the authenticity of the atmosphere and I wanted to portray the Kirtipur landscape in the set design," Rajan tells us, wiping away his make-up after a performance.

Presenting himself as Gyan the potter on stage has been an epiphany for Rajan, the actor. The play itself is a time machine that takes him and his audience to a Kathmandu Valley 500 years ago. He says, "Gyan helped me understand the creative potentiality of my character, a potter whom everybody loves." ?

Abha Eli Phoboo