No woman, no cry

Titled Rupert's Birthday, the play is a monologue directed and adapted by Vikram Kapadia of a reclusive, single woman. Played by Anahita Ube...

Titled Rupert8217;s Birthday, the play is a monologue directed and adapted by Vikram Kapadia of a reclusive, single woman. Played by Anahita Uberoi, it draws from her memory of her role as a mid wife during the birth of a calf, Rupert. She doesn8217;t celebrate any occasion except Rupert8217;s birthday who was like a child to her. The calf was born when she was 13 the day her mother gave birth to her brother. And the day she started her menstrual cycle. It is a piece about the cycle of life, birthing and becoming a woman.

A year later, the girl accompanies the calf to the slaughter house where it is sold. In fact, she soothes it and then sends it to its death. This incident scars her for life. Anahita plays the down-to-earth, rather cut- off woman very well. And her detached delivery makes the monologue that much more moving. Here the mood-effective lighting also works very well. And if I hadn8217;t known that it was an adaptation from an American play, I would have not realised it. The monologue arouses tremendousempathy and you understand this woman8217;s pain and why she became the way she did. It also made me think just how easily we dismiss life forms other than our own and assume that we are superior beings. Where is our humanity in the way we treat animals?

The next play, Mothers Have Nine Lives, adapted and directed by Anahita Uberoi, is a series of eight monologues of urban mothers. Played alternatively by Kitu Gidwani and Shernaz Patel they talk either to imaginary children or about children who are not present. Done in a light manner, it gets the message across without ramming it down your throat. Though they have four appearances each, Kitu and Shernaz come across as eight different women. Anahita8217;s direction and Kitu and Shernaz8217;s superlative performances bring this poignant piece to life. An interesting thing about this piece is that as a counterpoint to each monologue, as soon as it gets over, two children come on stage to enact a small scene. And each one is a reaction of children to the situationdepicted in the previous mother8217;s monologue. This gives you a very uncomfortable feeling because then you understand just how much parents affect their children. In one instance, the children start treating their dog the same way the parents treat them. And you realise, almost with horror, how responsible we are for our children and sometimes just how little we take on this responsibility.The pieces are very humourously written and the costumes, changed on stage itself, give each mother a different look with the smallest of changes.

Finally, there is Talking With. A collection of six monologues adapted and directed by Rahul da Cunha. The central theme is the survival of single women in an urban environment. Rahul is a master at adapting and he has done a brilliant job of getting the flavours of urban India just right without caricaturising any character. For instance, Shernaz8217;s role of a lower middle class woman is played very authentically with her splayed feet and peculiar blinking. Jayati Bhatia ishilarious as the gutsy sardarni in labour. Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal8217;s portrayal of a slightly senile lonely school teacher who showers objects with love as her family has deserted her is very touching. I think Radhika da Cunha, with her three very different roles, deserves a special mention for her versatility. Her domestic rape victim monologue done in an aftershock monotone is very searing. And most of the pieces, like Radhika8217;s last one, where she is a bored, depressed socialite, are done humourously but with a subtext that is very sad. It works very well, as the sadness is suggested and not thumped on the audience8217;s head. To me the monologues do a brilliant job of depicting the triumph of the female spirit over the adversities of life.

As told to Anu Kumar

At the Experimental Theatre, NCPA from July 4 to July 12, 1998. Time: 6.30 pm.