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| Over the years,Voicing Silence
has developed its own approach to the development
and performance of plays. The content has ranged
from reworkings of traditional myths to current
social issues; the genres from folk and traditional
to avant-garde ; the format and location from
street and open spaces to auditoria, but always
low-cost; the audiences from rural to small town
to metropolitan; while the occasions have varied
from women's conferences, and cultural jathas
to college shows and local cultural festivals.
The sponsors for these plays have varied too ;
educational institutions, small town cultural
festival committees, women's groups, Dalit groups
and NHOs, literary societies, and Tamil dispora
in India, as well as mainstream theatre festivals.
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| Every play has
been developed for a specific audience, in a specific
form and style, and by a different approach. Some
evolved from a series of collective improvisations,
others have been adapted from literary texts,
and a few specially written by playwrights. Most
of the plays have been developed in workshop mode,
with emphasis on collective functioning, mutual
support and group criticism. |
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| The first attempt
in late 1992 was a short play, Subbutai, based
on collective improvisation. The theme was women's
dilemmas in decision making on intimate personal
issues in the context of middle-class families
struggling to modernize, while compelling women
to be the carriers of "traditional"
values. Though only performed a few times, it
marked the start of an adventure. |
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| 1993 Chuvadugal
(Footsteps) |
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 A
documentary play based on the biographical novel
Pathaiyil Patintha Adigal by Rajam Krishnan, the
play presents the life of Maniamma, a revolutionary
woman activists of the first half of this century,
her understanding of class caste and gender issues
and her strategies and struggle. It carries a
message of renewal and energy for today's women
activists. |
| Script and Direction:
A Mangai |
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1994 Mouna-k-kuram
(Silenced Prophesies)
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 Based
on the image of the independent, widely
traveled gypsy (kurathi) of the kuravanji
tradition in Tamil literature, the play
draws heavily on the folk idiom. Her playful
eroticism and earthy rejection of puramic
images of femininity - such as Sita, Draupadi
and Chandramathi- exposes their basis in
patriarchy. |
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| Script and Direction
: S. Ramanujam |
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| 1995 Pacha Mannu
(The Newborn) |
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 Set
in an interactive street theatre format, this
play on female infanticide/foeticide suggests
that this act of violence is only the extreme
form of the gender discrimination that shadows
every woman's life. Each performance deliberately
draws the audience into its world, compelling
them not only to contribute but also to choose
between alternative endings. The cultural jathas
continued late into 1996. |
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| Script and Direction:
A Mangai |
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| 1997 Vellavi
(White Steam) |
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 This
real life story of a 76-year old dhobi woman who
has been the ups and downs of life was carefully
documented by a research scholar, and presented
as a solo performance set against the backdrop
of a dhobi square created by the chorus. The cultural
context of gender, involving caste, class, age,
education and technical know-how, was laid bare,
as the old woman mused aloud to the washing rhythms
of the younger generation. |
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| Script : Parthibaraja
Direction : A. Mangai |
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| 1998 Avvai |
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 The
play challgenges the image of old age imposed
on the ancient Tamil woman poet, by the traditional
literary view. Letting through loud and clear
the female voice resisting restriction, it shows
how the patriarchal world view suppressed the
image of a youthful, sensuous woman, fearless
in expression, and turned it into a less threatening
one. |
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| Script : "Inquilab"
Direction : A. Mangai |
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| 1999 Pavazhakodi
or Family Conflict |
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 The
first innovative play in a series developed in
traditional women performers' own genre, the play
used comedy and satire to turn traditional views
of male-female relations upside down, poking fun
even at figures like Arjuna and Krishna. The linking
of the performers' own personal and stage lives
through stylistic shifts drew attention to the
contemoraneity of the issues. |
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| Script and Direction
: K.A. Gunasekharan |
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| 2002 Pani-t-thee |
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 A
solo performance set in the idiom of koothu
and isai natakam, the play explores
gender identity through the tale of Amba -Shikandi
in the Mahabharatha, the woman who struggled to
become a main in order to seek justice in a man's
world. A parallel text is offered by the transformation
of male and female roles through costume, make-up
and performance style. |
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| Script and Direction
: A. Mangai |
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| 2000 Medai Pesudu
(The Stage Speaks) |
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 Taking
a fesh look at some central women characters in
Puranic stories, the three sort plays evolved
by women performers through improvisation reexamine
the myths, exploring the silences. The theatrical
devices of the "speaking stage" and
the clowns, voice these dimensions, reinforcing
a feminist perspective. |
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| Script : M.S.
Gandhi Mary Direction : "Aazhi" E. Vengadessin |
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| 2001 Manimekalai |
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 The
great Tamil epic by Seethalai Sattanar written
in the era of Buddhism - Brahmanism conflict,
celebrating woman's autonomy and freedom of choice
in a historical context, is deeply relevant to
contemporary struggles against caste and gender
oppression. Performed by the same all-women group
in their own idiom, it allows the voice of a Buddhist
nun to reverberate down the centuries. |
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| Script : "Inquilab"
Direction : A. Mangai |
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