Bengaluru-based actor/director, Anuja Ghosalkar is all set for her one-woman show in Chennai — Lady Anandi, a 50-minute documentary theatre performance; the first of its kind in India.This is the story of an actor who sees her great-grandfather while performing on stage, and her love for moustaches!
“The character, Lady F, is haunted by the ghost of her great-grandfather — a female impersonator in late 19th century Marathi theatre — every time she goes up on stage,” explains Anuja, adding, “When she finally encounters him, he is dressed as a woman, in a blood red, silk saree, essaying the role of Lady Anandi — a controversial 18th century Indian historical figure. F tries to imagine her great-grand father’s life, playing women’s parts in the theatre by looking at his photos, and trying to re-enact characters he essayed. This leads F to question some of the characters she is made to play in current times.”
Using a series of photographs, anecdotes and fiction, Anuja weaves through time periods to find her great-grandfather Madhav Rao, a Marathi actor who played the roles of women, like that of Anandi. She says, “Not only is the play a personal attempt to find my great-grandfather, but in the process, it is also about a woman in theatre.”
She was an artist-in-residence at Art Lab Gnesta, Sweden, when she wrote Lady Anandi.
A quirky, absurd and historical look at how to act like a lady in a man’s world, the documentary theatre piece is being showcased as a work-in-progress. The reason — “It aims to draw the audience’s attention to the process of making work rather than presenting a finished product,” says Anuja, who is performing for the first time in Chennai. She’s thrilled about it too, “The city has a long history of theatre and I’m excited about today’s presentation. The audience in Chennai is very knowledgeable and I am looking forward to performing for them and getting their feedback.”
The 38-year-old director, who has worked with leading theatre directors, is the founder of a theatre company — Drama Queen. She is also involved in theatre education and in Experimenta, a festival of moving image art in India.
(Lady Anandi will be staged at The Folly, Amethyst, today from 7 pm onwards)
