Closet Revolution

“Through her journey and discovery,the audience also goes through the same emotions,ultimately ending with acceptance,” says Arun Kakade,producer of Marathi play Ek Madhavbaug,a production acclaimed for its sensitive portrayal of homosexuality and how families deal with it. “The audience’s reactions usually start from being absolutely stunned and then move towards understanding,but that was the intention of this play,” says Kakade.

The play,which been staged in Pune and Mumbai several times,was written by the late Chetan Datar as an effort to focus on the lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender (LGBT) community,which is still rarely featured in Marathi theatre. Over the years though,there has been a bolder effort towards telling these untold stories. Vijay Tendulkar broke barriers with Mitrachi Goshta,a story of a lesbian. Datar also wrote Chandrapur chya Jungalat,staging a discussion between two friends to explain the concept of homosexuality to the audience. Last month,directors Sushma Deshpande and Zameer Kamble staged To Tee Tey in the city to a moved audience. To Tee Tey,which translates to “He She It”,tells true stories about the LGBT community and their struggles. “Not only are the stories true,they’re also portrayed by the very people whom the stories belong to. It is a very personal project for them and for us,” says Deshpande. The production will be staged in the city again on April 18.

Ask her how the audience received the stories,and Deshpande talks about how several people went up to the team after the performance,saying it had struck a chord with them or given them courage to come out of the closet. Through the play,the team not only seeks to tell their own stories,but also hopes to change common prejudices. “A lot of people think that homosexuality is a concept that has come from the West,but we have also portrayed stories from the Mahabharata and Ramayana to show that it has been a part of our legends since ages,” says Deshpande.

These plays are not only working to change perceptions in the Maharashtrian community,but have also inspired several take-offs in other languages. Mitrachi Goshta and Ek Madhavbaug were both translated to Hindi and are now performed in both languages regularly,while To Tee Tey has also inspired an international film — Out! Loud! “The audience is ready for these plays now,but since the subject is delicate,these plays are experimental and there is still time before they become mainstream. Slowly,we’ll get there,” says Deshpande.