Performance Practitioner | Director | Playwriter | Scholar

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Emil Madhavi is a multidisciplinary artist from Calicut, Kerala, with a wide-ranging practice encompassing acting, directing, writing, and academic research. A recipient of the Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award (2022), he is known for his deep commitment to contemporary and experimental theatre. Emil is the founder-director of Theatre Company, a collective that champions intimate, site-specific, and transdisciplinary performance practices in India and abroad.

He holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry, a first-rank Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts from the School of Drama, Calicut University, and a Master's in Performing Arts from the University of Hyderabad. He also qualified the UGC-NET in Theatre Arts and is currently pursuing a PhD in sound scenography in Indian performance-making. His training in Kalari, Tai Chi, and Yoga, including a certificate from Vedantha Forest Academy, informs his unique acting pedagogy.

Emil is developing the Inner Circle Acting Method, a psychophysical approach to performance that explores the Second Body/Nude Body of the Actor. His collaborations span international borders, having worked with artists such as Jane Collins (UK), Brighid Burkharter (USA), and Tolis Papazoglou (New Zealand). His major productions include No Blood in Macbeth, A Secret Tale of an Invisible Mirror, and Everything Came Out of an Egg.

He is also a prolific educator, teaching theatre and film aesthetics at various institutions. His publications include Kumaru (drama), White Paper (poetry translation), and Appakkunjungalude Aakashayathra (children’s theatre). His research on performance studies and the actor’s body appears in more than 15 academic and cultural journals.

Awards: Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award (2022), Abu Dhabi Shakti Award (2023), Edasseri Award (2021), Varthamanam Katha Puraskaram (2020)