Earlier this month, Here Now went live in front of an audience at the Podfest at Q. Producer and host Kadambari Raghukumar spoke to thespians Jacob Rajan and Pedro Ilgenfritz all about the magic of masks.

In the first ever live podcast Here Now had a live audience at Q Theatre earlier this month as part of Podfest at Q.

This week Here Now features excerpts from the conversation with incredible thespian and mask enthusiast Pedro Ilgenfritz and Jacob Rajan.

Pedro Ilgenfritz went from counting to clowning in his career and has never looked back since. While studying accounting as a 20-year-old in his hometown in Brazil, Florianopolis, Pedro discovered acting, through the clown nose.

Krishnan's Dairy is the play with which it all began for Jacob Rajan and his creative partner Justin Lewis, brought together by the love of masks 25 years ago to set up Indian Ink, their company.

"When I first put that mask on, I can almost sense the audience lean forward. There's a childlike wonder that is kind of released in them. They're given that permission to imagine."

Kadambari Raghukumar featured both guests in previous episodes of the show. Here's Jacob on Krishnan's Dairy and his love for masked theatre. And you can listen to these Pedro from a previous episode here.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details