A dancer whose idea of relaxing after a full meal is to stand on her head…. a singer who breaks glasses every time he touches the note…. an actor who is the ultimate masculine sensitive …. a traditional dancer who expertly portrays the ideal ‘woman’…. a director whose nods are difficult to decifer as ‘yes’ or ‘no’… an atypical visual artiste and a ‘native’ storyteller…..

Put them all together for two weeks off in Bangalore the Garden City of India. Explore the possibilitites of ‘Performing Gender’. Make sure you are close to every watering hole there. For believe me, you will need it in the evening to believe what transpired through the day.

If gender everywhere is a social construct, then do I choose my gender to be performed for the day like I choose my costume for the day from my wardrobe? If the idea of feminine and masculine is only defined by the other, how do I understand ‘feminism’ as a way of lifestyle? If culture is not limited to geographical or linguistic distinctions, how do I come to terms with my own past thereby function in the present and future? Is my past my own or does the community, which functioned therein, have a claim to it also? Is every deed of mine defined by some dark secret from my past? If all identity is fragmented, then when do I begin to question the ‘I’ itself? Does time dictate the method of narration?

These were only few of the queries interrogated, explored, disputed. Such an experiment needs patience, sensitivity, and humility, never with certitude. That certainly was the case in those two weeks. The outcome, of course was amazing. The willingness to learn from scratch was apparent in the team.

The material on the multicultural nature of the team was quite interesting. I am not certain whether it allows one to argue the cosmopolitan nature of the society, or whether it was just a large gathering of various ethno-cultural groups working together, separately. Of course, this is central to the question we are asking about All-India/English society in general.

In that sense, perhaps, there is no ideal multicultural or cosmopolitan society that exists anywhere. However, the possibilities of the evolution of such a society are no doubt closed repeatedly by various ideologies by the way they rigidly mark cultural/sexual identities. What needs to be emphasized therefore is that ample evidence of such a possibility exists in the porosity and fluidity that was once shared and still shared though in differing degrees in comparison to earlier times by various ethnic groups that work together.

Nonetheless, great care must be exercised in identifying the ambiguities. Within the trans-national milieu in which this experiment was being conducted, it was necessary to question ones own presumptions. “Gender is the extreme of the cultural construction of identity, and therefore a particularly interesting theme to explore through theatre and across cultures. Art, especially performance, has always subverted the conventions of gender …” said Michael Walling, the project director in his introduction.

Art, especially performance, has and should always subvert all conventions. It is thus the best road for self-questioning. That was truly achieved in those two weeks both individually and as a team. The net result in October this year hopefully will not be to give solutions to these ambiguities raised but a mutual exercise to understand and accept.

Pritham K. Chakravarthy
Chennai July 2003

Peter Luke Kenny as Julian, with Khandkhar Adil Hussain as A