Day 16: Marappachi performs Vakkumoolam

On Day 16, the last day of the Prajnya 16 Days Campaign Against Gender Violence, Marappachi performed the play Vakkumoolam (Testimony) at Queen Mary's College.

A scene from Vakkumoolam, a play written by V Geetha based on an article by Mythili Sivaraman

Geetha and Mangai of Marappachi interact with students following the performance

Director’s Note:


“In our conversations about violence, emotions tend to predominate: even as we give vent to sorrow, rage and pain we risk losing sight of the everyday. This is especially so with discussions of sexual violence, where symbols, metaphors and notions of honour take over. As far as state violence is concerned, the terror it arouses overwhelms all else. Yet, even as pain and sorrow prove insistent, people continue to live. How do we mark the experience of pain, now resonating as memory, especially memories of sexual violence that are invariably burdened? What sort of language may we use to express all of this?”

A Mangai, Director, Vakkumoolam

2009 Campaign PR (2/12 & 3/12):Exploring Gender Violence through theatre

For some 20 odd girls from Queen Mary’s College, Wednesday and Thursday have been about rediscovering their bodies, differentiating male gaze and societal gaze from what they really want, and in general dabbling in theatre with facilitators Mangai, Sumathi and Srijith from the Marappachi Trust.

“The workshop was largely about tapping collective experience, and providing a space for perceptions on body,” said Mangai. Exercises included role plays, body warm-ups, and even mock fashion shows. It was learning by doing, as the girls themselves realised after some exercises that it was largely patriarchal laws that governed many rules about the female body.

Even puppetry, recitation, story telling and monologues were used to get some key points across on issues like dowry and skin colour. The workshop culmininated on Thursday evening, as the girls split into groups and presented three sketches on various facets of violence against women, including female infanticide and forced marriage. That, “Women’s rights is Human rights” was the take home message at the end of the workshop.

The two-day workshop was part of the 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence organised by Prajnya, a Chennai-based centre for public education, networking and research. “This year, many of our programmes revolve around popular art forms like theatre, poetry and music,” said Anupama Srinivasan, Campaign Coordinator, Prajnya.

Exploring Gender Violence through Theatre

Catwalks. Rhyme. Couplets. Role plays. Skits.Puppetry.

Wednesday & Thursday was about letting go, rediscovering bodies and staring back at the male gaze for 23 chirpy girls from Queen Mary's College.

Mangai, Srijith and Sumathi from Marappachi Trust were the star facilitators as some of the girls discovered a hidden talent: acting!

The half-way point

Yesterday, it suddenly struck me that we were at the half-way point of the campaign! Eight days down, eight to go. And very honestly, when people ask me, "how's it going?", I find it very hard to know how to respond. My instinct, gut, spontaneous response is to say "its going really really well". But ask me to qualify that and it gets tricky. I suppose one reason, the main one, really, is that its incredibly difficult to assess something you are in the thick of.

Ask me the same question today though and I have a ready answer. We've just returned from Queen Mary's College where twenty three students have spent the last two afternoons in a theatre workshop, facilitated by the Marappachi Trust. It was wonderful, incredible to see the enthusiasm with which they got invovled, the genuine introspection, the willingness to share. And above all, personally, what I found most satisfying was their ability to relate their workshop experiences to their daily lives.

At the end of the workshop, as always, we asked for feedback. This is often an iffy exercise - often, participants feel obligated to tell us how wonderful it was. But not this time. Well, they did say how wonderful it was:) But more importantly, they shared with us stories from their lives, told us about their relationships with their families, and spelled out how they intended to tackle some of the more problematic ones.

No magic solutions. But a wonderful wonderful two days, and an inkling that somewhere, doors are beginning to open (forgive the cliche!).