Adishakti theatre group from Puducherry is known for its compelling message-oriented plays with an impressive presentation. The group travels across the world with their famous plays including Bhoomi which has been staged at various places around the globe. The play is coming to Mumbai for the first time at the 12-day-long Prithvi Festival starting from November 3.
Scheduled to stage on the third day, November 5 of the festival, the play looks at the spectrum of unspoken arguments towards gender harassment and its implications on society. Set between two central characters – where one is a play director and the other an actor. The narrative follows a play-within-a-play, where the characters find themselves in different phases of their personal and professional lives. With the progress of the socially relevant play, one witnesses conflicting conversations about gender and violence and how an individual responds to the violence against women as an observer or a third party.
“We are trying to talk about the individual responses to gender harassment and what actions they take when something happens with a woman. There are two stories simultaneously taking place in the play where two actors talk about the absence of resolution even when the situation is demanding it with a sense of urgency,” says Vinay Kumar, the Artistic Director and Managing Trustee of Adishakti Theatre.
An adaptation of a Malayalam play Bhoomirakshasam by Sara Joseph, the play heads a warning - 'viewers discretion is advised' as some of the segments in the play can be upsetting or triggering.
While the subject of gender equality is much talked about, Vinay feels that physical aggression still needs a conversation in society and it hasn't been addressed enough. “We usually don't speak about the main issue. We talk about rape which is beyond physical aggressions. In the play, we are talking about why such things happen and how they affect the victim or the people around her. Though the subject has been spoken about a lot, nothing much has changed and it is also not going to change anytime soon,” says the actor and director, who extensively focuses on body movements in his plays.
The 80-minute play with a cast of six actors on stage, is supported with live music by the actors. The play, Vinay tells us, took about a year of preparation and two months of rigorous rehearsals during the pandemic with the in-house artistes. “It takes time to equip the artistes with music and instruments. Every actor had to learn to play some musical instrument and learn singing. Each actor in the play has pushed their limits as creative performers. I composed the music for the play for the first time,” Vinay shares.
But does that become difficult for him to make transition between actor, director and composer, we ask. “As a creative person, this is not a challenge. I always try to expand my capabilities and learn new things. The whole point of being an actor is to experiment and learn new things to challenge yourself physically, mentally and emotionally,” Vinay says, who along with his team members is already on a tour with his play – starting with a performance at IAPAR - International Association for Performing Arts and Research festival tomorrow.
On November 5, at 5 PM.
At Prithvi Theatre
Tickets: INR 750
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