Sat 13 Mar

Vagina Monologues by Dolly Thakore

When

Sat 13 Mar, 7 pm – 8.15 pm IST

Where

Chowdiah Memorial Hall, Malleshwaram · Chowdiah Memorial Hall Bengaluru, 16th Cross Rd, Vyalikaval, Kodandarampura, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560003 Open in Google Maps

Price

from ₹799

Booking

Book on BookMyShow

Who

• Venue Chowdiah Memorial Hall Bengaluru (Venue)

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Aparajito presents The Great Bengaluru Theatre Festival, which includes India’s longest-running theater show, 'The Vagina Monologues,' featuring Dolly Thakore, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal & others. This play is giving India the sex talk which we never got. "Is the heart capable of bleeding, hurting, breaking and bending out of shape for the ones it loves? So is the vagina." If a vagina could speak, what would it say? That's the question. The different answers given by women of varying ages, status and personal histories form the ten to twelve monologues that make up the play. These monologues have reportedly shocked and scandalised people around the world. This off-Broadway theatre piece by Eve Ensler, which began in 1996, has become somewhat of a global phenomenon. A collection of stories from women all around the world, transcending all socio-economic classes and backgrounds, the play addresses topics of rape culture, sexism and even genital mutilation, questions that remain as important today as they were 15 years ago. All the stories centre around one thing: a woman’s relationship with her vagina. The play relies on challenging the taboos related to vaginas by making women talk about their experiences. In a particularly thought-provoking anecdote, we are told of a woman who claims she hadn’t seen her vagina for 72 years says, “It’s just a place, a place we don’t want to think about and a place we certainly don’t want to talk about.” This highlights not only the challenges faced in the making of the play, but the mainstream narrative of ‘ignoring’ rather than ‘embracing’ a part of human anatomy. Theatre artiste Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal was first introduced to the play by her son Kaizaad Kotwal and immediately thought it was something that Indian audiences would never accept – which is exactly why she decided to bring it here 15 years ago. Mody-Kotwal knew that introducing people to a truth they have actively been trying to avoid for centuries would not be easy and that it would only work if they could perhaps see themselves in it in some way. Produced by Poor-Box Productions, Vagina Monologues has been performed in India since 2003, by artists including Mody-Kotwal, Dolly Thakore and Jayati Bhatia. The performance – while still maintaining the authenticity of the original play – has been carefully adapted to an Indian audience, with the names, locations and cultural references changed, like the accent of the character of a couples' counsellor changed from German to Bengali, or an episode of a girl falling in love at a pani-puri stand instead of a bar. But getting to this point wasn't easy. In a conversation with The Wire, Mody-Kotwal recalls how her production received no support from theatre venues. During the play's nascent stage in India, the script underwent the scrutiny of a police commissioner in Chennai, who did not allow it to be staged because it might cause 'violent agitations' from the audience. "And I remember thinking to myself, " says a Mody-Kotwal, "How can a play performed by non-violent women about non-violence towards women spread violence?" The play has since then been staged multiple times in Chennai and across the country, drawing a wide range of reactions, from distaste for the unapologetic representation of sexual desires to cathartic happiness on seeing exactly that. The evolution of audience reactions is often visible through the comments the team collects after each show. "Each comment is worth reading," says Mody-Kotwal, "You have so many people thanking us for stimulating discussions with their partners and loved ones. One time a man even told me after watching the show that he wished he had a vagina!" This veil of secrecy around certain topics is something that is experienced by virtually all women. A large part of the play devotes itself to the discovery of the vagina, the feeling of becoming familiar with oneself and holding no shame in experiencing – or talking about – the pleasures and pain