Nirbhaya: Forget Everything And Run OR Face Everything And Rise The Choice Is Yours.

 

I had lunch with a friend from NYC who was also in town for The Fringe. I'll be completely honest, my choice in shows tend to range from camp to campier. Silly to obscene. My friend, who writes reviews for a living, was the perfect person to ask for suggestions. Of the many suggestions, Nirbhaya was the most "serious". Here is a little description from the edfringe website.

"On the night of 16th December 2012, a 23-year-old woman and her male friend boarded a bus at Munirka for Dwarka. What followed changed lives forever. Internationally acclaimed playwright and director Yael Farber creates a searing new work that cracks open the cone of silence on the staggering depth and breadth of violence perpetrated against women in India. This scorching new work will enrage, move, devastate and inspire you with the sheer capacity of the human spirit to rise, bear witness, survive and turn the tide."

I had heard about the gang rape case on the news last year. It was shocking, sure, but to me it was just that... news. Seeing these actors take this horrific event and create such a powerful performance made it someing more. It made it feel so close and real. Leaving the theater I felt suffocated with emotions (hence the glass of wine).

I'm not a professional reviewer. I'm not even going to attempt to summarize the play on my iPad. I will say though, the most beautiful and heart wrenching scene was when the victim of the gang rape, Jyoti, is cleansed after struggling for days to hold onto life. Jyoti lays lifeless on the stage covered in blood, filth and shame and is delicately washed by the other cast members who had also shared their stories of sexual abuse. It was sad and beautiful. In fact, it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Intense.

If you don't know anythhing about the Delhi Gang Rape case you can read about it here.

Jyoti

 

 

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