The Auroville Theatre Group’s (TATG) next play is an intriguing story of a young woman who hails from the fishing community in Goa. After she heads to Kolkata for higher studies, she returns to her native, only to find that she can no longer submit to the norms followed by her community. This conflict is what defines Who Sits Behind My Eyes?, by Isabel de Santa Rita Vás, the play that inspired TATG’s latest production, directed by Franziska Detrez.
Vás, a teacher and a playwright who founded the Mustard Seed Art Company (an theatre group from Goa) and Positive People (an NGO that spreads awareness on HIV/AIDS and provides support to its victims), met with Jill Navarre during an acting workshop in Panjim and gave her a collection of her plays. “When Franzi read them, she really liked Who Sits Behind My Eyes?,” says Jill. Between their show (till December 21), we spoke with Detrez to find out more about the inspiration to do this play and the preparation that went into it.
I read that Isabel was inspired by a Tagore poem for Who Sits Behind My Eyes? Could you give us a brief introduction?
It is, in fact, a quote from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore. The complete line reads – ‘There is a looker-on who sits behind my eyes.’ In the script, by Isabel de Santa Rita Vás, the poem appears in its full form and supports the poetic side of the script and story. Isabel had originally written the play in the ’90s, pointing at the struggle of young women who grow up in a rather conservative context, challenging social norms and restrictions. The main character in the play is actually a woman, Sarah, who has to fight for her freedom and rights to make her own choices and lead an independent life. As in the play, her struggle is strongly connected with the matter of domestic violence and the difficulties that women face who want to stand up for their rights.
What were the challenges in writing your script?
While reading Isabel’s script, I was inspired by the characters that she had brought to life. In the play, almost all characters are from one family and the reason why they all struggle and fight with each other is that their wishes and goals don’t match. But each one of them has very valid reasons for their own demands and decisions. In order to focus equally on the main character’s struggle and the larger context – the society that created the situation she finds herself in – I tried to slim the script down to a shorter version that gives almost equal space to all characters.
What’s the set like?
The play is almost written like a chamber play – all scenes can take place in one space, characters enter and exit onto the same patch of beach within a fishing village. We got in touch with the fishermen in a fishing village close by Auroville in order to get an actual fishing boat from them. In our representation of a beach, we chose to create a slightly abstract version of what beaches over the world look like today – all we did is organise a beach clean-up. We will put the collected trash as pieces of art trouvée, on the stage itself. That way, the characters find themselves in an environment that shows development but also represents the desolate state in which many communities the world over find themselves nowadays.