Beyond gender, class and caste
ROMESH CHANDER
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The focus of Pandies' Theatre remains on socially relevant themes. And its latest presentation "Margins" proves just that.
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ON THE MARGINS A scene from the play "Margins"
Pandies' Theatre has come a long way from its early days when it played only in English on the proscenium stage, to activist theatre taking on projects or issues like environment, child rights, rape, prostitution, HIV and mental health, etc.
The main focus however remains on women and the girl child as the group believes if our society is to move ahead it has to become more women oriented and women friendly.
Gujarat killings in 2002 brought about some change in Pandies' immediate course, so much so that gender, class and caste were brought in the anti-communal tirade resulting in three plays condemning communalism. Pandies' in its latest presentation, "Margins" that was on the board this past week at Shri Ram Centre returns to its favourite theme of women who live on the margins of society as it exists in India today.
"Margins" is the coming together, as it were, of three short scripts "linked in their critique of the mainstream of not only of our society in general but also of our governance".
The first play is based, we are told, on the real life story from the files of a women's organisation `Shakti Shalini' and centres around a lower middle class Muslim family and explores the way the so-called justice works for women, particularly the Muslim women from lower middle class.
The script put together by Sanjay Kumar is an eye opener for the audience.
Beyond caste
The second play written by Anuradha Marwah who has already written two novels, uses Dalit autobiographies to construct a real story that juxtaposes caste and gender and goes on to question whether gender can go beyond the barriers of caste.
The playwright poses an interesting question but, one is afraid, the point she was making was lost because of the weak performance of the two actors playing as the boy and the girl in a crucial scene in the play.
The third play written by Anand Prakash is set among the economically weakest of the weak and laced with lines and action that have the potential of bringing the house down but unfortunately the cast is rather weak and shows no concept of a farce beyond a `C' grade TV serial.
All the three plays have been directed by Sanjay Kumar, who has in the past given us some good theatre. To live up to the standard expected of Pandies' what "Margins" needs is at least another two weeks' rehearsal, for most of the cast is new and needs more training and exposure.
There are however five or six old hands in the cast who are good but the programme brochure gives no indication as to who was playing what.
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