All the world around is stage for her 

Scene I, Act II, Lushin Dubey in her earlier play Untitled.

Lushin Dubey is ready to hit Delhi hard -with her new play Bitter Chocolate, opening on Jan 16.

'WORK IS defined by age. The older you get the more you question; I find myself asking questions I would never have asked 10 years ago," says theatre actress Lushin Dubey, whose new play Bitter Chocolate will open to Delhi audiences on January 16.

The play, based on Pinki Virani's novel of the same name, deals with sexual abuse in children and is a solo performance, like Dubey's last production Untitled, which dealt with 'Women's role in society. It's almost like a sequel, each play gives birth to another," says Dubey.

But the idea, rather unfortunately, took seed after the Swiss diplomat's rape in Siri Fort. "I thought about what she will take back when she leaves India and I was itching to do something. At that point my friend Kanika Satyanand, who does social work at the grassroot-level, asked me to read Virani's novel. I did that and immediately called up Virani, from whom I bought the rights. She was very cooperative and gave me lots of freedom to improvise."

In fact, Virani hadn't even met Dubey when she agreed to sell the rights. "We spoke at length, and though I hadn't seen her work, I was familiar with it through the media," says Virani, who had earlier refused offers to adapt the book into a play or a film. "I have to say that not only is she portraying it sensitively, she is also trying an unusual format, which has not been attempted in the Indian subcontinent for non-fiction. I wasn't comfortable with the intention of the people behind it and how the core subject would be treated."

The script for the play has been adapted by director Arvind Gaur, who is also responsible for the "unusual format" - adding multimedia to the play - so the character on stage intermingles with the characters that appear on a screen behind the stage. "This play will disturb the audience," says Gaur, for whom this is the fourth solo in a row - the others being Woman in Black with Bubbles Sabharwal, Madhavi with Rashi Bunny and Untitled with Dubey.

Dubey on her part, feels it is important for society to step in and back plays like these, which carry a social message (Council for Social Development has stepped in to sponsor this play). "And they cost very little. Untitled, for example, had no props; we devise them like that."

Interestingly, Untitled, based on two stories - Nyari Nyari Maryada by Vijay Dan Detha and Medea by Dario Fo - has been picked by Ayesha Shroff to be made into a film tentatively titled "Child's Play." "Avijit Dutt of Yatrik is directing it," says Dubey. The shooting is likely to begin in February.