a view of runaway girls
, photo credit: special arrangement
when four runaway girls (runaway girls) come on stage to narrate ‘their’ experience in an interactive manner, the audience is bound to empathize; When girls smile, smile and also clap in agreement. This is from Delhi’s Hindi drama director Dhvani Vij. runaway girls, Tell me about the drama. Nizamuddin cast in this narration-style play to be staged for the first time in Hyderabad by Popsicle Production colony In Delhi we’ll talk about what it’s like to live in an urban society for girls from low-income backgrounds.
Sound elaborates, “The play explores the actors’ gendered bodies and their relationships with themselves, others and public spaces – the play uses objects, physical theater and cartography to create a thought-provoking experience These stories begin on a random day. These are first-hand retellings of a day in Nizamuddin colony, Through the everyday medium of the narrative the audience is invited to enter the artist’s world.
The stories turn into stories of how gender and sexuality play a role in the lives of the four actors. Conversations about family, trust, consent, personal space and gender dynamics begin to surface. Questions about their identity and how they are perceived within the confines of their home and their community come to the fore through their words and actions.
runaway girls The first was commissioned as a part of Gender Bender 2016, supported by the Goethe Institute Bangalore and The Sandbox Collective. “I collaborated with Aagaaz Theater Trust to develop a 15-minute piece, which was presented as a work-in-progress at the festival. The original piece was enacted with two actors – Nagina and Jasmine. Later, with the support of a refunction grant by the Goethe Institute Delhi, it became an hour-long show with four actors (Nagma and Zainab joined the team). This year, we plan to rework the play to reflect the post-pandemic narrative and the socio-cultural milieu of the actors and their world.
She adds, “The gap between ‘who I am’ and ‘how people see me’ guides the explorations that artists embark on. Viewers are invited to experience the events through a gender-sensitive lens.
how the drama unfolds
The audience faces a temple-like structure made of everyday objects at the center of the stage. A song is heard and four burqa-clad figures emerge from the audience and enter the stage space. While continuing to sing, she takes off her burqa. Four young girls in their school uniforms spread burqas and lay down on them to sleep. The commercials fade out and finally, the girls wake up for their daily morning chores. It looks like they are getting ready for school. The ads fade out as soon as they leave their homes.
Each actor tells their story to the audience, while the other three use objects in the space to represent the storyteller’s dilemmas. The shapes in which objects are rearranged have a dramatic correlation with what is being said about them. They symbolize the essence of each narrative, and the sense with which they are placed highlights the dramatic tension between the speaker and the context.
runaway girls It will be staged on April 23 at 5 pm and 8 pm at Rangbhoomi Space. Open to everyone 14 years of age and older. Booking at http://surl.li/gfppm