BENGALURU: Even though there are adequate platforms for women to express themselves, they are unable to have a say or share their opinions, feels theatre artist Dushyanth Gunashekar. Dushyanth, who has been a theatre director for 10 years, feels women are still not represented well on different platforms.
He has scripted a play called Dolls under the banner of Crea-Shakthi, based on real stories of 10 female actors in the play. “It has had a massive impact on me personally.
I can’t even begin to explain. I thought I knew all these women whom I have worked with earlier. But Dolls surprised me. It also taught me that women trust men with some of their most personal stories and hence, it gave me a sense of great responsibility in representing them well,” he says. The women themselves were his inspiration for the script, he adds.
With such realistic stories put on the line, why give the name Dolls? According to the director, dolls are an obvious satire on how women are treated as objects and not as free-thinking individuals with their opinions, likes and dislikes. They are not a thing to play. Hence, the title. When asked about what message he wishes to spread through the play, he explained that there are certain stories that women have and cherish that can come across as the run-of-the-mill to many but that’s a wrong attitude to have.
“Perhaps, we need to be better listeners. There is a need for women to come out and share their stories. The modern Indian woman is much more than what the mainstream media portrays them to be. Their stories and voices need to be better represented,” he says.
For Urvashi Goverdhan, Dolls opened the way to new possibilities, testing her skills as an actor. The 27-year-old who has been an actor for over a year now, says, “The play has given form and structure to a knot of emotions that’s been in my head for years. I’ve always wanted to find a poetic way to communicate the experiences I talk about in my monologue.”
She explains that the real task lay in expressing those emotions and conveying it to the audience, as opposed to the conventional idea of a play where the script is given to the actor before getting into the role of the character.The play will be staged at Jagriti theatre on May 11 and May 12 at 8pm and 3pm respectively. Tickets are available online at `300.