In/Out/In is a performance created with the collaboration of Indian and German artists to look at boundaries of textual and performative spaces for the feminine in the Indian context. The performance is loosely based on Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda and the central concern is how to go beyond the colonialist, nationalist or patriarchal discourses that accept the marginalization of women as necessary. It focuses on Radha entrapped in a “traditional” space, and tries to explore her various levels of ambitions and interruptions – the “rural” lover and Krishna, the “Pardesi” love object. Moreover, Radha is “rooted” while Krishna is in transit. He is symbolically more representative of “ India” while Radha remains representative of the eternal “Bharat” feminizing the majority of the Indian population. As the performance looks at the temporary possession of Krishna by Radha it also measures the relationship in terms of the woman as outsider and Krishna as insider. Hence, the much-elaborated image of Radha as a multiple victim is subverted and re-read with an acknowledgement of the written text’s phallocentrism and subversion in the performative.
Performed on 20. January 2010 at Bahumukh, National School of Drama; Bharat Rang Mahotsav, New Delhi
Cast: Shilpika Bordoloi, Veena Basavarajaiah, Sandra Chatterjee, Felix Bürkle
Direction: Aditee Biswas Dramaturgy: Santanu Bose
Lights: Goutam Majumdar
Costumes:Shree Biswas
Sound Design and Music: Sankar Venkateswaran
Dhrupad Vocals: Barna Maitra
Stills: S. Thyagarajan Special thanks to:
Madhushree Dasgupta & Ranti Deb Maitra
Acknowledgements:
Max Mueller Bhawan, New Delhi, Robin Mallick, Farah Batool, National School of Drama, Dr. Anuradha Kapur, Abhilash Pillai, Gati, Anusha Lall, APB Productions, Percival Billimoria, Katja Kessing, Petra Roggel, M.K. Raina, Ram Gopal Bajaj, Madan Gopal Singh, Vineet Kumar, Anita Cherian, Charu Shankar, Supriya Shukla, Gargi Bharadwaj, Sukhesh Arora,Kriti V. Sharma, David Brandstaetter, Malgven Gerbes, Alok Biswas.
