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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Nijaswa Chitkar_performance

In the distinct style that Noutonki follows, the only object in the arena was a ‘dholak’, a drum, played by the madari’s assistant. All the situations and transitions were portrayed more through physical movements than dialogues, and some members of our audience who did not understand Bangla, later said that they had no difficulty in grasping the message. Interesting moments were created when we used the ‘open t bioscope’ (a children’s ditty) and when the protagonist is lifted bodily and carried like a corpse through the whole arena, accompanied by ‘”aao baccho tumhe dikhayein ladki hindusthan ki/ is mitti se tilak karo yeh dharti hai balidaan ki”. With numerous rhymes and songs, the play was much appreciated by our audience, and they interacted very enthusiastically over the possible solutions to this daily hazard.

Cast
Amrita
Anwesha
Arati
Gargi
Kamalika
Kamonashish
Ranu
Soumya
Soumya (Batabyal)
Suchismita
Tanushree

Percussion
Rajat


Script, Music & Direction
Abhishek

Space
UG Arts Lawn, Jadavpur University

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Nijaswa Chitkar (Our Screams)


Performed in a Forum Theatre form, it explores the problems faced by the urban woman, both at home and outside, in an episodic style. First performed at the JU campus on Womens’ day 2005 at the behest of the School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University.

The Play

Introduced by a madari and his assistant, who show the audience the situations an urban woman faces when she steps out into the road. The first sequence is in a crowded bus, (emulated by the actors standing in two lines and swaying, as if on a moving vehicle) where a middle aged man and a young college-going student try to tease and molest a young woman. Unexpectedly for them, she protests, but the other passengers just stand around and watch the fun, without coming to her aid.
The madari’s witty comments along with the dialogues, take the play to the next sequence, which shows the middle-aged man at his home. He is watching the infamous ‘ babauji zara dheere chalo’ item song (sung by the actors impersonating a home theatre) when his wife tells him that their daughter has to attend a friend’s birthday party in the evening. The man is scandalized: how can such a young girl go into the streets at night? The madari comments on the inherent hypocrisy of the situation and moves the play to the young student, who has gone to his college canteen. There, the students of both sexes, are singing some very misogynist /derogatory songs. When the madari is puzzled, a female student tells him that the song is by a famous Bangla band or maybe even Rabindranath, illustrating a herd mentality and a internalization of such attitudes, so that the lyrics do not seem offensive but ‘hip’ or ‘fun’ to the female students; they have accepted it as part of their repertoire.
The madari then poses 3 probable solutions: the first, that the woman would not retort and ignore the comments, as she is afraid of what the society would think of her. The second, that she would retaliate, and be harassed some more, both by her co-passengers and the police, who instead of dealing with the miscreants, make it further embarrassing for her; the final verdict of the court is that the eve teasers are free to go. It is continued when the woman returns home, only to be chastised by her mother for not being decent and therefore inviting harassment. Thus, she is at a dead end.The madari and chela are very disappointed so see that there is no justice, and opens the play to audience comments.



[to be contd.]