BANGALORE: Nearly two decades after The Vagina Monologues was first performed by Eve Ensler, it's still running strong, and India too has seen several performances.
As a response to it, to give expression to problems that men face, American playwright Jason Cassidy wrote The Penis Monologues. Directed by him, the play was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe a couple of years ago.
Now, recontextualised for the Indian audience by engineering graduate Sharmin Ali and presented by her Koramangala-based theatre company Art-Right-Is, play will be staged for the first time in the country in about a month's time.
Talking of how she came across the play, the director says, "I heard about The Penis Monologues from my theatre contacts, so I got in touch with Jason via email, and then we chatted too. He wanted to know why it should be performed in India. After he was convinced with my explanation, he agreed and gave me full freedom to make alterations since, he said, I know the Indian audience best."
According to her, although Cassidy's play was a response to the play that inspired a movement, this one too is for women.
"The Vagina Monologues was for women to express themselves. The Penis Monologues is about the s**t that men go through. That women need to understand because most often whether it's a failed marriage or a woman who's physically hurt, it's the man who's blamed and people are generally more sympathetic towards the women. Even the law often favours women."
However, she doesn't believe that the audience for her production, opening at K H Kalasoudha on August 28, will be restricted to women.
"I want all the women to bring their husbands, boyfriends, friends along because they will be able to relate to what the actors talk about, be it the boy who shares how he fell in love with a much older woman (20 years older than him) and believes that love has no barriers, the man who was raped and the trauma that stays with him the rest of his life, the problems of a boy who has just attained puberty and his recent first-time experience, a man who wants to tell his mother he's gay. The play, I feel, will help improve communication between the genders," adds Sharmin.
She tells City Express that 60 people auditioned before the 23 actors, who will perform for it were selected. "It was tedious but also lots of fun," says the 25-year-old.