Based on
Dario Fo's "MEDEA" and on a story by विजयदान देथा Directed By Arvind Gaur
Bombay Times
Saturday, March 8, 2003
Picking up a faceless moppet, actress Lushin Dubey starts talking. And suddenly the expression on the moppet's face alters as if in response to what Dubey is saying. This could well be a scene from her recent play Untitled, but Dubey's act lasts only for a couple of minutes, time enough for a photo shoot. As she packs up, she points out, "The topi, scarf, stick and the moppets are the only props, I use in the play." Dealing with the plight of dominated, women, the solo act will soon be staged in Mumbai. "Untitled is not a mere depiction of what happens to women alone, but gives a voice to their cause," says the Delhi based actress. "It's a world where the man is a ubiquitous master and the woman is hopelessly doomed."
Based on Vijayadan Detha's Nyari Nyari Maryada and Dario Fo's Medea, the play was "born out of a disaster situation". Aboard a flight to the US, when the 9-11 attack happened, Lushin was forced to return. After which she watched the series, Beneath the veil, depicting the plight of Afghan women. "On the plane I saw what fear was like, and on seeing the atrocities committed against the Afghani women, there was this urge to do something," she recalls. "With nothing specific in mind, I called Arvind Gaur; the director, and we started working on the play:" The venture had no formal script and was experimental in nature. "It was like baking the right cake whose recipe kept changing," she explains.
Based on Vijayadan Detha's Nyari Nyari Maryada and Dario Fo's Medea, the play was "born out of a disaster situation". Aboard a flight to the US, when the 9-11 attack happened, Lushin was forced to return. After which she watched the series, Beneath the veil, depicting the plight of Afghan women. "On the plane I saw what fear was like, and on seeing the atrocities committed against the Afghani women, there was this urge to do something," she recalls. "With nothing specific in mind, I called Arvind Gaur; the director, and we started working on the play:" The venture had no formal script and was experimental in nature. "It was like baking the right cake whose recipe kept changing," she explains.
However, the ultimate satisfaction comes from stage and doing plays like Untitled. "When I started off, I was not sure if I would be able to strike the right chord, whether people would identify with what I was trying to say," she says. But her apprehension proved to be wrong, when, after a show, Aruna Roy, a social activist came backstage and asked her to stage the play in Rajasthan. Concludes Lushin, "I realised that it's a universal problem and not restricted to a few. Though I am not a bra burning feminist, it is true that the world is unfair to Women". A performance of Untitled, brought by Women's Movement of peace and Prosperity, will be staged on March 21 and 22 at the Sophia Bhabha auditorium