BENGALURU: Besides Valentine’s Day, February marks a celebration of another V-Day, which stands for Vagina Monologue. The month is witnessing global V-Day shows and in India, and two productions took place in Bengaluru over the weekend. On the 17th, it was held at Lahe Lahe and on the 18th, at Shoonya Centre for Somatic Practices. Seventeen monologues were narrated by 12 women, who aren’t actors. Therapists were also part of the show to cater to anyone in need.
City Express spoke to Rekha Kurup, director of the performance, and founder of the She Stands Tall Project.
The Vagina Monologue has been a controversial episode. Kindly share your thoughts on how you think the production will make a difference today?
In its own space, Vagina Monologue has nothing controversial about it. The controversy is primarily reflective of a society’s mindset towards sexuality and prompted by the false notion of what Vagina Monologues is about, rather than what it actually is.
India has celebrated women’s voluptuous bodies and her sexuality from time immemorial. I feel Vagina Monologue is completely founded in that sacredness, because they are real narratives of women. Sexual repression in our country has gone beyond the tipping point. While in the West, secrecy was connected to shame, in India, secrecy was connected to sacredness. I feel that hosting the Vagina Monologues within that container in a culturally sensitive way is more healing, transformative and awakening.
Is the script according to global standards or have they been improvised for this event?
Every year, V-Day makes small updates to the script that is released. It has few new monologues, but the framework and the script is standardised. Within that framework, we have the freedom to incorporate local words, phrases and prompts in some of the monologues. But we cannot create our own monologues.
When did you first come across The Vagina Monologue and what prompted you to bring it to Bengaluru?
I first learned about the Vagina Monologues when I was in college, and I was not drawn to the show because of all the controversies surrounding it. Then in 2010, when I was doing my masters in Women’s Spirituality, I heard that the school was staging the Vagina Monologue. At that time, I participated in the reading and in the audition, I heard all the monologues. It brought every possible kind of emotion - from shame to joy to tears to trauma to memories to pain to anger to fear to unknown emotions. Being part of the production was one of those bridges towards the development of my relationship with my body and sexuality. I had decided then that I am definitely going to bring this to India.
How inclusive was this edition of The Vagina Monologue?
Our auditions were open to only women. We could have also had transgenders for this one particular monologue on transgenders, but we didn’t have enough time to get the word out. I only started the auditions in December.
What does the production mean to you personally?
It means reviving, reliving and awakening sisterhood. For me, it was women connecting at a very deep level with each other and sharing their own stories and experiences around vaginas and becoming free in their relationship with their body, while discovering their sexuality. Another factor was bringing the show within the cultural and spiritual context of India, and giving the entire show an intimate living room.