Indian theatre production highlights the role of women

Over the past two months, the Australia India Institute has been the venue for  a unique cultural journey. The renowned Indian theatre director, K. Madavane has worked with amateur and semi-professional Australian actors preparing a production of his acclaimed play, The Mahabharata of Women.

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of India (the other being the Ramayana). It is a story of war, family, society and philosophical dilemmas, and has been read and performed in India for centuries.

Madavane’s interpretation offers a new approach to the epic which emphasises women’s perspectives. The Australia India Institute backed the production before recent violent attacks against women in India and the worldwide furore that has ensued, but its staging now takes on new relevance and resonance.

Although written for a non-Indian audience, the play has also won wide acclaim in India. It has been performed in a variety of languages in Canada, India, Germany and France, always with local actors.

K. MADAVANE undertook part of his early theatrical training in Paris and went on to become a professor of French and Francophone studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He has directed more than 50 plays in English, French and Hindi, published two plays and several short stories, and has taught theatre in Canadian and European universities.

The Mahabharata for Women will be performed on 12th, 13th and 14th of April, 2013 from 7.30 pm to 9.30pm at the University of Melbourne’s Open Stage, on 757 Swanston Street in Carlton.  Visit the Aii website aii.unimelb.edu.au for tickets

 

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