An all-women play

CHENNAI: While a few women go ballistic on feminism and want to wage a war against the entire male community, an all-women theatre group, the Mahalakshmi Ladies Drama Group, has come up with a play that deals with the after effects of such a blind opposition. Titled Saswatham, the play revolves around Aanandhi, a city-based pro-feminist, who is later enlightened about varied issues including the traditional lifestyle by her mother-in-law from a village. Bombay Gnanam, who has both written and directed the production reveals, “It’s an all-women play with no male characters at all.” She is a popular TV personality and a theatre artiste, and also plays the role of a village mother-in-law in the play. Another highlight of Saswatham is that most of the 13 actors in the play are fresh faces and some of them are housewives too.” I wrote this script nearly three years ago and only now it is being staged for the first time,” she said. They have been practising for the past two and a half months, she added. The music has been scored by Manikandan, sets have been created by Mohanbabu and L Vijayan, while lights have been taken care of by Ravi. The play will be staged on behalf of Karthik Fine Arts Club, Brahma Gana Sabha, Parthasarathy Fine Arts at Narada Gana Sabha from August 8 to 11, then at Vani Mahal on August 13 on behalf of Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha and on August 14 at Mylapore Fine Arts Club. The play will begin at 7pm, entry is free.