Theatre: Explore self-worth and loneliness through the story of a young woman from outside Mumbai

(From left) Vaishnavi Ratna Prashant during a previous performance

A forty-minute solo Marathi theatre performance will be presented on stage at a suburban studio next week. Titled Baap Re, the story revolves around an anxious 25-year-old woman from Vardha, who moves to Mumbai in search of work. After experiencing overwhelming loneliness due to her male flatmate's indifference towards her, the woman encounters a stranger by chance. While she slowly begins to open up to the stranger who she can spot from her balcony every Sunday, the blurred lines between her reality and surrealism begin to fade. Is the stranger real or a figment of her imagination?

Written by Brinda Shankar, Baap Re is directed and performed by Vaishnavi Ratna Prashant. "The play was written as part of a writing workshop at NCPA in 2019, and we even held a performance reading of it. I have been planning to adapt it since then. But due to COVID-19, I had to delay the production," Prashant tells us. She revisited the story during the lockdown, where, for the first time, she could relate with the character. "I shot it myself within the confines of my house. It was an improvised version of the original script. With my mind set on adapting it for the stage, I applied for the DSM Alumni Grant in 2022. After receiving the grant, we performed the play for the first time in January this year," Prashant reveals.

What she loves the most about the play is that it traces some minute but important topics that women think about and experience every day. "There is a scene where the character talks about how conscious she feels while peeing because her flatmate might hear her. It is a simple, necessary body function, but the shame she feels around it shows her anxiety and her need to please others by appearing perfect," the director says, concluding, "Humans are greedy creatures. We constantly seek approvals and acknowledgment from others to define our worth. But the journey should be about loving ourselves. That is what the play hopes to convey."

On: July 16; 8 pm
At: Mukti Manch, Ground floor, Bharati house, 19, Aram Nagar Part 1, Aram Nagar, Versova
Log on to: insider.in
Cost: Rs 300