Women power: Changing narratives via the stage in Gurugram

Beyond the corporate successes, technological advancements and chrome skyscrapers of the Millennium City lie creative aspirations and stage dreams. Despite the city offering little incentive, there is a strong passion for arts among groups of residents that has resulted in a throbbing theatre scene, led by women of the city.

From founding theatre groups, donning the director’s hat, essaying roles of stage manager and costume designer to penning compelling scripts and channelising difficult characters on stage, women in the city are playing a pivotal role in crafting a compelling cultural narrative for the city, one act at a time.

Urban Suburban Productions (USP) is one such theatre group and production house in the city that was formed in 2010 by five women - Vanessa Ohri, Farah Singh, Ruby Kapoor, Sumita Tayal and Arati Singh.

“At that time, nine years ago, Gurugram was starving for a theatre scene. People wanted to see plays, join theatre groups, but there was nothing,” recollects Ohri. She said she met the other founders while working at a city-based cultural organisation. “They were handling stage production, costumes of theatre groups and artistes from the Capital and other parts of the country. There were no local artistes,” she said.

Ohri and Farah had pursued professional theatre in Delhi and Kolkata respectively, and Arati is a filmmaker who provided a stage to hold productions. Kapoor was a part of her college plays and theatre groups while Tayal was an art enthusiast, keen on stage productions.

Niti Singh (R) and Srishti Chhabra, artists of Merry Go Round Entertainment theatre group during rehearsal of a play. (Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

They all acted on stage and received an enthusiastic response from residents of the city for productions such as God, I’m no Goddess, Vexed in the City, Fly High, Firefly! The productions they put up, although women-centric, were stories of people of Gurugram, subjects and characters the residents could identify with. This had never been done before and it struck a chord with theatre lovers.

While theatre was slowly finding its feet in the city, there were many novice and veteran actors who would commute daily to Delhi to be a part of the mainstream theatre. Pooja Shankar, a corporate professional, was among them.

But for Shankar, the daily commute started to become cumbersome, especially with play practices continuing till late in the night. “Returning on deserted roads felt dangerous,” she said. Gradually, she started going to the Capital lesser, but missed the pull of theatre.

In 2013, Shankar, along with two of her friends and co-artistes, Sourav Padhi and Tarun Dangwal, started a theatre group in the city titled Merry-Go-Round (MGR). Padhi , a Sector 56 resident, said, “Pooja and I were doing theatre in Delhi. But both us always felt a tug, kaash ghar ke paas kuch achha hota”.

Distance, desire and dreams led way for the creation of MGR, a group that has produced over 70 plays in three different languages and has a robust cast and crew of over 50, with women and men in equal numbers. Padhi and Shankar have directed most of the groups’ productions.

Catch any rehearsal at the group’s Sector 56 basement studio and you will find the women vehemently arguing on costumes and lines, directing emotionally loaded scenes, delivering sharp critiques and putting themselves effortlessly in the shoes of the characters.

Saanj Choudhury, a Sector 9A resident, who works with Delhi Police and is a part of the group, said, “Emotions and frustrations in life keep accumulating. We do not express everything we would like to. Here, during rehearsals and on stage, when I play different characters, these emotions get released.”

Shankar, a director and an actor, has worked with many woman artistes and says that she has found that women find theatre liberating. She said, “On stage, you are able to say a line or direct a scene as you want to; there is no holding back, it’s your vision. Theatre makes women realise their true potential, which sometimes gets lost in the daily chores and the myriad roles they essay. And suddenly, you realise you have something to do and you are talented — something nobody told you before. It is liberating to recognise I have the potential in me that is beyond my regular life of being a mother, housewife or a corporate official.”

Farah, of USP, said, “One of the reasons our plays do well is because our scripts are original. The feminine mind is such a fascinating and complex entity that between the five of us, we have never faced a shortage of new and interesting ideas for scripts.”

Yet women in theatre hasn’t been a norm. In fact, it has been quite the opposite — probably why the city’s theatre scene being led by women makes it an important part of the cultural landscape. Renowned theatre artiste and danseuse Mallika Sarabhai said, “More and more women are moving from essaying assisting roles to become creators in the theatre domain. Women as theatre directors was an anomaly till even a few years ago... It’s women saying we are not scared to take risks; we don’t need approval and will stick by our convictions.”

Sarabhai reflects on the fact that women, whether in roles of founders, directors, costume designers, set managers or music directors, are helming the creation process rather than jumping into something already created, giving much to celebrate, as it points to a trend where women in arts are showing complete faith and conviction in their ideas.

Although more women become active participants in the city’s theatre landscape, there is not much monetary remuneration for following their passion. This is part of the reason why city-based director Suhasini Dighe Rastogi — founder of Avighna Theatre Group and a National School of Drama student and director of over 11 theatrical productions — continues to pursue a day job. She said, “Reverence for arts is my only motivators. There is nothing I earn out of it, which is why I still continue with my day job, and then direct and rehearse five days a week, 6.30 to 10pm.”Rastogi says for artistes to grow in the theatrical domain, there is a need for incentivisation of theatre groups and individuals in the city, creation of a well-equipped common cultural platform where home-grown groups can take their productions and put it across to the people without breaking the bank. The city still lacks such places, which is a concern for many theatre groups and a factor they feel can dampen the reviving theatre scene in the city for both performers and audiences.

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First Published: Feb 21, 2019 11:46 IST