TThe focus of the NCPA’s (National Centre for Performing Arts) annual Centrestage Theatre is the freshness of the line-up. So, a question asked by a particularly diligent journalist, made one notice that yes, a large chunk of the 15 plays in 2015 were written and/or directed by women, and no, it was not deliberate. (The curator (myself) and supporter of the festival, Dr. Saryu Doshi are women).
Even though theatre in Mumbai is not constrained by the commercial concerns that afflict cinema and television, there have been very few female playwrights and directors, which is why such an explosion of talent in one festival came as a surprise. It is not a coincidence then that most of these plays also had female protagonists.
The emerging female protagonist
Meera Khurana directed Miss Cuckoo, (written by Adhir Bhatt and Bobby Nagra) had a most unusual protagonist. Pratibha Rastogi (Seema Pahwa), who prefers to go by her stage name Miss Cuckoo, is brought by her son and daughter-in-law (Aseem Hattangady-Dilshad Edibam Khurana), to an old age home for performing artists called Golden Oldies. She is a sharp-tongued and outspoken woman, who doesn’t want pity. When the manager of the home, Chacko (Kashin Shetty), tells her family they can come visit her often, she says, “Why? Don’t they have anything better to do?” She admits that she could get along with her daughter-in-law if she wanted to, but their strife spices things up.
Still, a home for senior citizens is not where she’d rather be, the stage and film star in her craves attention. Much to Chacko’s horror, she changes with the windows open, and walks around the corridors in the buff. Being cooped up with other old people does nothing for her morale – she listlessly listens to the radio, reads poetry and gossips with another inhabitant of the home (Khurana), who excitedly carries news of scandalous goings-on.
It is obvious that Miss Cuckoo must have been a hell-raiser in her youth, and that prevented her from reaching the heights of stardom that she deserved; the major male stars did not want to work with her. She says, without any embarrassment, that she doesn’t know who the father of her son is – “must be one of the men in the drama company.” But in a moment of introspection also admits that women of her time were exploited, because they did not have a choice.
Normally, people don’t expect a senior citizen who could be anything between “70 and 103” to have sex appeal, but Pahwa plays Miss Cuckoo with an unholy glee that proves that age has nothing to do with a woman’s self worth, or self image.
Kalki Koechlin as director and other stories
The protagonist of The Living Room, written and directed by the very talented Kalki Koechlin is also an elderly lady of indeterminate age. Ana Nil (Sheeba Chadha) is described as an old lady, but she is astute and fleet of foot, dressed in a lacy white night gown, dozing on her living room couch, oblivious to the thunder and lightning raging outside. She wakes up to find Death (Neil Bhoopalam) sitting in her ex-husband’s chair. This must be a rare play about death that is not gloomy – to begin with death has pale blue skin and is dressed in women’s clothes, to comic effect. He explains that is the first time he has a body, and what remains unsaid is that he probably didn’t know what to wear.
Through the surrealism of the play – the sequence when Ana sees her life flash by (it is believed this is what happens when a person is close to death) which is beautifully choreographed – Ana remains quite unfazed. In the midst of the chaos in her living room, she remembers the ginger cookies in her oven, which even tempt death. She is a woman who has experienced suffering, but her lust for life is undimmed – she has the nerve to tell death that she isn’t ready.
7/7/07, directed by Faezeh Jalali, and devised by her actors, is about an Iranian teenager, who was just nineteen when she was arrested for the murder of a man who tried to rape her. After six years of torture and torment she was hanged in October 2014, despite worldwide protests and appeals for clemency.
Jalali’s stunning production, is played out on a bare stage using light and shadows to great effect (lighting design Arghya Lahiri) the only props are the actors’ voices and bodies, as the story of Reyhaneh’s horror unfolds.
Reyhaneh is alternatively played by all the young women in the cast because she could be any teenager in any part of the world, and victim-shaming would probably be the same. Maybe in a more liberal country she would not be hanged, but the interrogation and humiliation in court would be the same. The cops made her confess to whatever they wanted by beating and torturing her and throwing her into solitary confinement for months on end. Her rather strong defence was ignored by the judge who believed that a man from a religious family could not possibly have attempted to rape Reyhaneh.
Faezeh Jalali intersperses Reyhaneh’s trauma in prison, with her interactions with other women in prison, who try to help each other and survive the brutality as best as they can. There are moments of joy snatched from the unremitting bleakness.
Islamic law allows the family of the victim to pardon the murderer. Reyhaneh is offered a pardon by Dr. Sarbandi’s son, if she will withdraw the accusation of attempted rape against his father. She is offered a reprieve if she does not name him in court. She refuses to change her statement, accepts death with astonishing equanimity for one so young, and writes to her mother asking for her organs to be donated.
In contrast with this tragedy is The Gentlemen’s Club, a rambunctious production, directed by Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid, which looks at the underground drag scene, but one in which women perform in male garb. Sarup herself plays a ‘Drag King’ who performs to Shammi Kapoor hits and Sheena Khalid is a Justin Beiber impersonator. It’s a crazy, outrageous world in which women celebrate masculinity.
A dance-drama production of Dharmvir Bharti’s epic poem Kanupriya, was directed by Minal Joshi, who believed the beautiful work that gives Radha a voice as a woman, not just as Krishna’s consort. Heeba Shah attempted to dramatise a Persian poem, and directed a colourful Parindon ki Mehfil. Spaces, co-written by Noor Baig is about a young woman trying to hold on to her home with its glorious history, against those who want to destroy its beauty for commercial gain. Gurleen Judge directed Ramu Ramanathan’s Ambu and Rajalakhshmi, about two cousins, who have much in common though they lead very different lives.
Only theatre allows such an exploration of ideas and themes…more power to the women who are proudly moving into the spotlight.
