Roysten was born in Kerala, South India. He did his schooling in Good Shepherd International School, Ooty and it was here that he started writing and directing plays. Little did he know then that he would continue doing this for life? He went to study commerce in college but dropped out twice after enrolling in two different colleges. Bored with commerce and business, which he had to do at his parent’s insistence some strange providence made him ask himself what he had enjoyed most in his life till then and the only thing he could think of were the plays he had done in school. Off he discarded the family business, joined drama school, and informed his parents after he had taken admission.
Roy graduated from the national school of drama in 1994 and then went to apprentice with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the same year. He came back to India in 1995, founded the Indian Shakespeare Company, and as the name suggests his initial work was lot of Straight Shakespeare. A major turning point in Roy’s life was in 1999 when he devised and directed Othello a play in black and white, which was his first original work. It went on to win the Scotsman fringe first award and since then has toured extensively around the world. This work got him national and international recognition and what followed was a spate of original works, which he conceived and directed. Some of these plays were produced in India and some in Europe.
He then started to work, with out of work street performers (Magicians, Jugglers, Impersonators, Snake charmers, Acrobats, Musicians, Puppeteers etc.) This work got noticed in Italy and he was invited to conceive and direct a play on the Italian Film maker Federico Fellini in Rimini, which is Fellini’s hometown in Italy. In that same winter he came down to India and created a play called the Spirit of Anne Frank, which starred the biggest female stars in the country. Soon after this he went on to do his first feature film In Othello which was his first step into cinema.
Another turning point in his life happened when he discovered the joy of creating theatre with musicians.He then went on to make two major productions, “The Manganiyar seduction” and “A Hundred Charmers” which has been traveling the world.
Roy then went on to create “The Kitchen” which he devised with 12 Mizhav drummers and two actors/cooks. This project was commissioned by Sydney festival. Holland Festival and Auckland festival.
He recently premiered “ The Manganiyar Classroom” in which he worked with the children of the Manganiyars.
He is also in the process of setting up A state of the art School for the Manganiyar Children which he hopes will be up and running by2018.
Production | Venue | Year |
Merchant of Venice | National School of Drama, New Delhi | 1993 |
Moliere by Bulgakov | National Repertory, New Delhi | 1994 |
Measure for Measure | United Players Guild, New Delhi | 1995 |
Macbeth | National School of Drama, New Delhi | 1996 |
Mahanirvan | Sri Ram Repertory Co., New Delhi | 1997 |
Wesker’s One- women Plays | British Council, New Delhi | 1998 |
* Othello – a Play in Black and White | Indian Shakespeare Company, New Delhi won the scotsman fringe first award at the Edinburgh festival and performed at the cairo international theatre festival | 1999 |
Romeo and Juliet in Technicolor | National School of Drama, New Delhi | 2000 |
Goodbye Desdemona | Indian Shakespeare Company, New Delhi | 2000 |
Goodbye Desdemona | London, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Netherlands | 2000 |
Goodbye Desdemona | Harare international festival of arts | 2001 |
Othello – a Play in Black and White | Harare international festival of arts | 2001 |
Much ado about Nautanki | New Delhi | 2001 |
At the Fringe – A Beggars Opera | Edinburgh Fringe, Rome, Sicily | 2001 |
Love: a distant dialogue? | India, Italy.Japan | 2002 |
At the fringe a beggars opera 2 | Torino, Modena, Rimini, (Italy) | 2002 |
Dami al meno un raje di sole | Italy (A play based on the legendary filmmaker Fellini done in Fellini’s home town Rimini, Italy.) | 2002 |
The Spirit of Anne Frank | Delhi, Bangalore, Calcutta, Ahmedabad | 2002 |
In Othello (Film) | India | 2003 |
Jiyo Indo Spanish play | 250 performances in Barcelona (Spain) | 2004 |
Brain child by Farooq Dhondy | New Delhi | 2005 |
Ladki Seedhi Rahegi | New Delhi | 2005 |
Mother I did not eat the butter | New Delhi | 2006 |
Othello In Black and white | Germany,France,Spain.Jiyo | 2006 |
Premiered Girish Karnad’s flowers | Bangalore and Bombay | 2006 |
The Manganiyar Seduction | New Delhi | 2006 |
A Hundred Charmers | Delhi | 2006 |
The Manganiyar Seduction | Bombay, Rome, Salzburg | 2007 |
A hundred Charmers | Naples (Italy) | 2007 |
Othello in Black and white | Belgium, Netherlands | 2008 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Halle (Germany), Salzburg, Zagreb (Croatia), Vienna, Krakow (Poland) | 2008 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Wiesbaden(Germany), Lyon (France), Amsterdam(Holland), Dublin(Ireland) | 2009 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Sydney (Australia), London (UK), Singapore | 2010 |
The Manganiyar seduction | BITE Festival Barbican center UK | 2010 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Singapore Arts Festival Esplanade Therather | 2010 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Marine Bay Sands Singapore | 2010 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Lincoln Center White Light Festival, Rose theater- New York | 2010 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Perth International Arts Festival- Australia | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Auckland Arts Festival- New Zealand | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | The Kennedy Center- Washington DC | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Womad- Abudhabi | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Quateir De Ete- Paris | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Alstadt Therbst Kulture Festival- Dusseldorf | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Melbourne Festival | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Hong Kong Arts Festival | 2011 |
The Manganiyar seduction | The National Repertory- India | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Penang International Arts Festival | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Womad UK | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Nh7 Weekender India | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Nh7 Weekender India | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Royal Opera House Muscat | 2012 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Attakalari Biennale Bangalore,India | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Michigan USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Lincoln center New York, USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | North Carolina USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Gainsville,Florida,USA2013 Gainsville,Florida, USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Miami Florida USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Miami Florida USA | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | Bangalore India | 2013 |
The Manganiyar seduction | New Delhi India | 2013 |
The Kitchen | Bangalore India | 2013 |
The Kitchen | Kerala India | 2014 |
The Manganiyar classroom | Bangalore India | 2014 |
The Kitchen | Lyon France | 2014 |
The Kitchen | Amsterdam Holland | 2014 |
The Kitchen | George Town Penang Malayasia | 2014 |