The Power of Three

Creating plays and festivals centred around women,including dramatising the stories of women authors for the stage and conceptualising theatre festivals,Gupta says that apart from the problems that plague a woman’s life,she likes themes and subjects that are a comment on issues that women of today deal with.

This time,Gupta is presenting a three-day theatre festival in the city wherein she will portray the lives of three women in three different plays. The festival opened on Wednesday at Tagore Theatre with the play Mull di Tinwi,written by Veena Verma. A touching story,it narrates the life of a woman who becomes a prey to human trafficking. Facing sexual abuse by her “owner” and his friends,she is shattered but still has her hope intact. Things take a different turn and she wins over her owner. “The relationship of a powerful,violent man and a poor helpless woman has been depicted on different emotional levels in the play,” says Gupta.

The group’s new play,Sati (to be staged today) is inspired from a real-life incident — a love story between a eunuch and a man. It talks about the trials and tribulations that the couple has to face to be with each other. “Sati will present the most dejected section of our society in a new light and talk about their feelings and experiences,” says Gupta.

Maa (based on Maxim Gorky’s The Mother,adapted by Kewal Dhaliwal),will comprise the finale of the three-day festival. Gupta plays the protagonist in the play which depicts the transformation of a woman into a revolutionary. An otherwise ordinary woman steps into a revolution for the sake of her son. When he passes away,she fights for the cause that her son once fought for. “The play shows how an ordinary woman takes charge of the situation and steps into the shoes of a change maker,’’ says Gupta.

The festival is on till August 9. The plays will be staged daily at Tagore Theatre,7pm onwards