The support women get from their sisterhood is not given its due in mainstream narratives and performances, whereas myths abound on how ‘women are their own worst enemies’. Nupur Saraswat, a spoken word artist and writer from Singapore, whose performances have shone a light on largely ignored women’s issues, observed this lacuna and wrote an article, Confessions on female friendships. “I wrote about our good, bad, and nasty women friends, and about whether we are really good friends of even our mothers and sisters.” Nupur made headlines when she protested on social media against an absurd rule by a hotel in Hyderabad that single women are not allowed to stay there. Her performances too raise such concerns on similar issues.
The idea of female friendship expanded further to explore the stories of other women, and that is when Karuna Srinivasan, a performer from Chennai, came on board. “We also included 12 stories we got on social media,” says Nupur, who also calls herself ‘The Sanskari Girl’.
All of this led to the culmination of the duo’s theatrical poetry show Girls Just Wanna have friends!, which brings together music and movement as well. The performance re-evaluates Feminism through the lens of female friendship. “Women often compete to cater to the male gaze. But through our performance we want to assert that one can be a better Feminist by being a better friend because your friends are your allies.”
“We have also explored other views on female friendships. Does it entail secrets or do women compete among themselves? Many truths came out when we delved deeper into the topic. We emphasise that we must be more supportive and encouraging to each other,” says the 22-year-old Nupur, who has been praised for her “electrifying stage presence.”
Elaborating further on the the term ‘theatrical poetry’, Nupur says: “We have combined pieces from theatre, dance, music and poetry to create this style of theatre.”
While Nupur brings in spoken word poetry, Karuna has created the dance and movement in the performance. Girls Just Wanna have friends! premièred in Chennai to an encouraging response.
“We will have a 30-to-40 intimate talk after the performance. In Chennai, the audience shared their stories with us,” says Nupur, who performed The Sanskari Girls, which explored what it means to be ‘a good girl’, with Kate Black-Regan. The show
Girls Just Wanna Have Friends! will be performed at Lahe Lahe, Indiranagar, on March 23, 7.30 pm, and on March 24 at 4 pm at The Courtyard, Double Road, Shanti Nagar. Tickets on eventshigh.com.