Women and war

Watch how women emerge after being tortured and tormented by war in the English play Necessary Targets written by the Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler this evening

War and its effects are not gender specific. It does not only mean loss of land, culture and ethnicity. For a woman it means much more and this screams out loud in the dialogues of American playwright Eve Ensler's English play Necessary Target.



Directed by theatre personality and filmmaker Prakash Belawadi, the play once again shows how a disaster like war affects men and woman differently. Like her path breaking episodic play The Vagina Monologues, this one also peeps into the hearts and minds of the fairer sex when ravaged by war.

"It is difficult for women to accept war. They live closer to earth. Giving and taking life is a big thing for them. On the other hand, men try to intellectualise violence. They try to make it abstract, while women personalize it," says Belawadi.

While the original play was written with the Bosnia war in 1992 as the backdrop, Belawadi has tweaked it a bit to suit the current time and space. Set in a home for war victims, Belawadi's presentation of Necessary Targets breaks away from any historical location and attempts to universalize the experiences of war.
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The play begins when two foreign women JS, a psychiatrist with 25 years of experience and Melissa, a young counselor are sent to the refugee camp to help five female war victims.

JS feels that her decades of experience will make it easier for her to handle such situations while Melissa is determined to write a book on the fate of these victims. However, as the play progresses the difference between 'we', who wants to help and 'them', who needs the aid will blur dawning new realizations.

"When you think it will not happen to me then they are the others. The idea of others comes as a privilege.
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Then history's twists and turns cut backward and the coalition between us and them happens,"shares Belawadi. He also mentions that Zlata, a war victim is his favourite character as she sees war as not a personal but human tragedy.

"You never know how violence will erupt. It dwells in us. Especially, if you are young, I will be surprised if you do not come out of the theatre crying," promises Belawadi.

Women in Bosnian War
An international armed conflict, the Bosnian War took place between Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. During the war, many Bosnian women belonging to various ethnic groups were raped mostly by ethnic Serbs. It is estimated that almost 50,000 women wereu00a0 raped during the period.

At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar
On from April 28 to May 1, 7.30 pm
Call 9986863615
For R 100 on April 28 and 29
Rs 150 on April 30 and May 1