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Event
Yagnaseni
Yagnaseni
Our Yagnaseni is a story that has been told many times. In the land of lore, where stories about women are often not told or written by them, we have taken full creative freedom to revisit the myth, reclaim the space and re tell the story.
This performance is based on our engagement with a female character, Draupadi, from the epic Mahabharata. The big story says, she was the daughter of a wealthy king Dhrupad and had the upbringing of a princess, shared a friendship with Krishna and was to get a husband through a Swayamavar. In the Swayamvar, her favourite suitor Karan was denied a fair chance due to his lower caste identity, instead she was won by Arjuna. Arjun arrived home with his four brothers; his eldest brother declared to their mother, they had won something. The mother asked them to share whatever they had won. She thus became polyandrous, wife to five brothers. When the five husbands lost their kingdom and all their worldly possessions in a game of Chaucer, she was gambled off as well and lost to the Kauravas. Kauravas dragged her out and publicly disrobed her. Her friend Krishna came to her rescue. This also set off the series of events that resulted in the Great War- Mahabharata. After the war was over, she was the first one to die and considered a sinner for being polyandrous.
'Yagnaseni' is the merging of this big story with many small stories that perhaps co-existed but are untold. In our storytelling, dance and music we marry our experienced truth with her story. We share her textured existence of resilience, fun, everyday violations, restrictions and negotiations .We showcase the tiers and the non- linear micro narratives. Yagnaseni is also an exploration of five interesting rupas of Draupadi as we see them.
About us:
We are group friends with day jobs, busy London lives and lots of creative energy. We call our group 'The London Natak Company'. This is our second performance. Some of us are on the feminist spectrum, negotiating our politics and the mainstream. We arrived at this showcase performance through a series of workshops and sacrificing our precious Saturday mornings. We hope to continue this creative expression.
Script: Swati Pande
Content, Direction and choreography: Subhaluxmi Mukherji
Production Assistance: Pulkit Khanna
Cast:
Yagnaseni: Bineeta Mitra
Panchaali: Sarah George
Draupadi: Moushumi Banerjee
Pandavi: Sonia Chandaria and Anshika Kulshreshtha
Mahabharati: Sujata Setia
Dancers: Jyotin Chhatwal Roy, Subarna Mukherjee, Anusha Sodavaram, Bineeta Mitra and Anshika Kulshreshtha
Krishna: Rajib Banerjee
Dhrupad/Teacher : Pulkit Khanna
Dai Ma: Sujata Setia
Storytelling workshop facilitation: Seema Anand
Voice Workshop: Zabarjad Salam, RADA.
Pandavi Choreography: Smt. Sujata Banerjee
Image painting by: Maitrayi Kar
Sound Editing: Paul Micah
Photography: Karan Gokani
Special Thanks: Ms. Sangeeta Bahadur and her team
Smt. Sujata Banerjee
Workshop participants
Friends, family and NHS!
'Palace of Illusions' by Chitra Divakaruni
for inspiration.
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LocationThe Nehru Centre, London (View)
8 South Audley Street
London W1K 1HF
United Kingdom
Categories
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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Contact
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