Now Reading: Jhadpe play on caregiving premieres at Habitat Centre
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Jhadpe play on caregiving premieres at Habitat Centre
Times of India reports that at India Habitat Centre last week, director Keval Arora premiered Jhadpe, an adaptation of Catherine Hayes' 1981 play Skirmishes. The play follows two sisters caring for their…
The Story in Brief
Times of India reports that at India Habitat Centre last week, director Keval Arora premiered Jhadpe, an adaptation of Catherine Hayes' 1981 play Skirmishes. The play follows two sisters caring for their dying mother, represented by a life-sized puppet. Puppeteers played house spirits with distinct personalities. During an unconventional intermission, one sister continued working and humming, ignored by returning audience members. Arora called it an experiment to highlight the caregiver's invisible labour. The play ended in eerie silence as puppeteers dismantled the mother puppet, blurring stage and reality.
The Indian Opinion
The play's theme of caregiving often gets reduced to melodrama, yet Jhadpe uses puppetry and a silent intermission to show unnoticed labour without preaching. Some dismiss theatre as irrelevant in the streaming age, but the audience's stunned reaction when the mother puppet was dismantled proved the medium's power. The real test: will this conversation about caregiving move from the stage to policy?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
