Compassion... thy name is woman
DIWAN SINGH BAJELI
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Despite being woman-centric "45-35-55" stays away from stereotyped feminist issues.
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THE BOSS Sohaila Kapur.
This is a play written and directed by a woman with all female characters but it does not deal with stereotyped feminist issues. Titled "45-35-55" written by Smritee Bharti presented under the auspices of Ashiana recently at Kamani auditorium, it captures the past of three women, their muffled hopes and colourless present, in a lively manner.
The playwright herself directs it. Since the characters are drawn from the middle class with dwindling economic resources, they talk in Hindi interspersed with English - a lingua franca generally called Hinglish. The way the characters interact, raise polemics about issues, which are personal with little social ramification offer engaging moments. As the play unfolds these characters emerge before us in flesh and blood. They are ordinary human beings and have no idealistic visions. Their world is narrow and they follow a humdrum routine. The production captures the rhythm of the lives of women being wasted away in performing and managing household chore. The play opens with two sisters - the elder is 55-year-old and the younger 45. They share the same house that belonged to their deceased parents. The elder sister appears to be spinster and the younger one separated from her husband and children. The sibling rivalry is manifest in their quibbles about household arrangements.
Advancing age
They frequently talk about menopause to show their anxiety about their advancing age. Enters the third character who is in the mid-thirties and a working woman. She is accepted by the sisters as a paying guest. She tends to be aggressive and assertive whenever there is a tug-of-war between her and the sisters.
The playwright tries to lace the narrative with erotic elements through some queer sounds emanating from the room of the paying guest while she does her routine physical exercise. The theatrical device adopted by the director to project the sisters' misconception of the sounds is not convincing.
The motives of the characters are not strong enough to impart vitality to their movements. Structurally, the script does not fallow conventional rules. The intent of the play is revealed through dialogue instead of dramatic action.
Towards the end, much of the misunderstanding between the sisters is cleared up. The paying guest too reveals contour of her past. All the three characters come out of their self-imposed inner exile, wistfully thinking about the need to reshape their lives.
The performers are able to establish a lively rapport with the audience. Smritee as the younger sister evokes laughter with her awkward movements and style of delivery of lines. A familiar name Delhi theatre, Sohaila Kapur in the role of elder sister and boss of the house gives a restraint performance which imparts her portrayal intensity, bringing to the fore her anguished world. Her sense of utter loneliness is heightened when she renders Bahadur Shah Zafar's sparingly poignant lyrics. Padma Damodaran as the paying guest gives a credible performance. The play will be repeated on May 4 as part of the theatre festival called Hungry Hearts at India Habitat Centre.
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