The Adishakti Theatre Group is Working on a New Play Addressing Sexual Assault and Power Dynamics

The Hindu has reported that the Adishakti theatre group is working on a new play, which seeks to address and explore rape and the politics of power.

Read the full story HERE.

The main reference points of the play are the story of the Araja character in the Mahabharatha and the deconstruction of the Dandakaranyam episode by Sarah Joseph's play, "Bhoomirakshasam".

Vinay Kumar, Adishakti Artistic Director shared:

"The play is a broad recreation of the original. Of course, we have taken the creative liberty to develop the script to suit our dialectics,"

The play aims to interrogate the crime-punishment binary that can often characterize the narrative around rape.

"A binary approach usually reflects extreme positions, including punitiveness of the opinionators who are disconnected from the incident, whereas the predicament of the survivor lies in between these ends and involves much more complex sweep of issues," Vinay Kumar also said.

About the process of putting the show together while in lockdown and quarantine, performer Ashiqa Salvan shared:

"For seven months straight the team has been living and working together in lockdown. Our campus was quarantined and our office was closed. But the work was still happening,"

Check out the full story HERE.