All those who are comfortable with saying or hearing the word Vagina may raise their hand. Most people did…few, as expected by the narrator didn’t or hesistantly did after a second… “ well you have to bear with it now that you are here or walk off…sorry no refund. My hand din’t go up instantly, not because I wasn’t comfortable, but because I though why would it be uncomfortable. Then in some days I have realized I am an outlier in this case…low on these words and zilch exposure. Anyway
Vagina Monologues is an extremely popular play across the world. Written by Eve Ensler, it started running in 1996. As is clear from the name, the play is a collection of short monologues centering around Vagina. It is more like describing the experience of women all over the world which somehow relates to the Vagina-the monologues range from best of things to worst-all encompassing women’s life and Vagina.
In India, it is run by since 2003. Directed by Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, I watched it with four leads in it at The comedy store, Mumbai. I guess in India it is performed by five leads but one was missing then. I watched performance of Mahabanoo, Dolly Thakore, Avantika Akerkar and Sonali Sachdev. Jayanti Bhatia is the fifth lady missing that day.
The monologues were:
First was I love hair. A gujarati woman married to a guy who prefers that she shaves her Vagina. He cheats on her because he does not prefer it unshaven. They go to see a counsellor as well who suggests that she should do it to please her husband. In the end, she concludes how it is a gimmick and he will cheat no matter what. She was unwilling to feel unreal for that sake. She describes how it feels unreal, uncomfortable and exposed to be shaving your Vagina. 'Exposed like a little girl'.."YOU HAVE TO LOVE HAIR IN ORDER TO LOVE THE VAGINA. YOU CAN'T PICK THE PARTS YOU WANT"
Now that I write it, this doesn’t seem to be either a strong script or a big issue but Sonali acted the part brilliantly.
Then there was an act, again by Sonali called Because He Liked to Look At It,
It is about this Maharashtrian woman who is active having in physical relations but always thought that Vagina is an ugly part of her body. It does not fit in with everything else. She would always hush the topic switch off the lights but ensure that she can save herself from the visual aspect. Then she meets this guy who just loves to look there. He makes her realize that she is beautiful in one more aspect. She falls in love with herself and gets comfortable with each inch of her body.
The there is ‘The flood’ featuring story of a 72 year old Parsi woman who has not done it for years. She is reluctant to discuss at first but gets extremely candid on probing. She recalls how during her first encounter in her friend’s car, she realizes that she is a gusher. She ends up spoiling the car and annoying the guy. After that incident, she develops a phobia of getting excited in fear of a flood that will be triggered by her Vagina. I thought it was a very simple yet realistic.
There is also an account of Bosnian and Kosova women in Refugee camps. They subject to rape for days and months by soldiers...story of college girl and a date rape incident from her classmate
"IT WAS SUCH AN EMOTIONAL INJURY,
THAT DISTORTS YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT YOUR WOMANHOOD,
YOUR SELF,
RELATIONSHIPS.
IT TOOK A LONG, LONG, LONG TIME TO TRUST ANYONE,
AND TO MAKE REALLY MYSELF FEEL THAT IT WAS NOT MY FAULT."
Then there were two performed by Dolly. One was called ‘My angry Vagin’ It described how the Vagina suffers pain in hands of tampons etc. I thought it was silly. I am a woman and I use tampons and there are thousand reasons why I am thankful to it, and not once that I can crib for. I get it, after all this comes from a real life testimony but I fail to identify. How can you be complaining about tampon being a hard rough cotton swab and what you deserve is a flower soft rose feeling thing inside you.
Second was a monologue about how a Vagina is synonymous to a woman. That she would want to be loved. Using Vagina as a metaphor for woman, she pushes the idea of a woman wanting to be loved, caresses, appreciated and cuddled. I am not sure if I agreed with the personification.
Then there was The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could, which was a child’s account of how she has a disturbing sexual experience as a child and it was healed by another sexual experience with an older women when she was in her teens. It is just a monologue of describing pleasure. It was enacted brilliantly so was one of the best of lot.
Then there was Reclaiming Cunt in which a woman mentions how cunt word is beautiful. There was The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy. It was also, good because it was executed beautifully. It mentions a woman who likes to give sexual pleasure to other woman. As a sex worker, she takes up the task to pleasing only woman because she knew she was gifted at it and also how women lacked real pleasure from men.
Next was a short act I was twelve describing a girl’s experience as she starts her menstrual cycle. The act wasn’t elaborate but I could identify. I too was twelve. Bit early by average Indian standards which took my mother for a bit of shock. I was clueless how to cope and majorly disappointed with myself and with being a girl.
I Was There In The Room, is written by Eve herself. She describes the birth of her granddaughter. By far the most sincere and honest account of all. It is written beautifully and the only tender account in the play. It is an intricate detail of childbirth and how it is one occasion that hurts a woman’s tree the most, yet is a prized experience for them.
Then there was this brilliant act about different types of orgasm moans by women- the power moan, vaginal moan, clitoris moan etc. That piece was hilarious!
All in all, I would not say I was very impressed by the play, nor disappointed. Few times I appreciated the acts, few other I wasn’t convinced. As in being a woman, I am supposed to empathize completely with the acts. I did not many times. A repeated idea of how women never looked at their Vaginas or one day put efforts to see was so unrealistic. I have never gone through that. It was a normal part of me and I saw it always, but never after a deliberate attempt or something. I remember always being familiar with it, never having felt ashamed, disgusted, ashamed or proud...nothing. It was never the way it’s describe in the play- being introduced to it one fine day etc etc…
But of course, i am not denying that such things hapen.
Vagina Monologues is an extremely popular play across the world. Written by Eve Ensler, it started running in 1996. As is clear from the name, the play is a collection of short monologues centering around Vagina. It is more like describing the experience of women all over the world which somehow relates to the Vagina-the monologues range from best of things to worst-all encompassing women’s life and Vagina.
In India, it is run by since 2003. Directed by Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, I watched it with four leads in it at The comedy store, Mumbai. I guess in India it is performed by five leads but one was missing then. I watched performance of Mahabanoo, Dolly Thakore, Avantika Akerkar and Sonali Sachdev. Jayanti Bhatia is the fifth lady missing that day.
The monologues were:
First was I love hair. A gujarati woman married to a guy who prefers that she shaves her Vagina. He cheats on her because he does not prefer it unshaven. They go to see a counsellor as well who suggests that she should do it to please her husband. In the end, she concludes how it is a gimmick and he will cheat no matter what. She was unwilling to feel unreal for that sake. She describes how it feels unreal, uncomfortable and exposed to be shaving your Vagina. 'Exposed like a little girl'.."YOU HAVE TO LOVE HAIR IN ORDER TO LOVE THE VAGINA. YOU CAN'T PICK THE PARTS YOU WANT"
Now that I write it, this doesn’t seem to be either a strong script or a big issue but Sonali acted the part brilliantly.
Then there was an act, again by Sonali called Because He Liked to Look At It,
It is about this Maharashtrian woman who is active having in physical relations but always thought that Vagina is an ugly part of her body. It does not fit in with everything else. She would always hush the topic switch off the lights but ensure that she can save herself from the visual aspect. Then she meets this guy who just loves to look there. He makes her realize that she is beautiful in one more aspect. She falls in love with herself and gets comfortable with each inch of her body.
The there is ‘The flood’ featuring story of a 72 year old Parsi woman who has not done it for years. She is reluctant to discuss at first but gets extremely candid on probing. She recalls how during her first encounter in her friend’s car, she realizes that she is a gusher. She ends up spoiling the car and annoying the guy. After that incident, she develops a phobia of getting excited in fear of a flood that will be triggered by her Vagina. I thought it was a very simple yet realistic.
There is also an account of Bosnian and Kosova women in Refugee camps. They subject to rape for days and months by soldiers...story of college girl and a date rape incident from her classmate
"IT WAS SUCH AN EMOTIONAL INJURY,
THAT DISTORTS YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT YOUR WOMANHOOD,
YOUR SELF,
RELATIONSHIPS.
IT TOOK A LONG, LONG, LONG TIME TO TRUST ANYONE,
AND TO MAKE REALLY MYSELF FEEL THAT IT WAS NOT MY FAULT."
Then there were two performed by Dolly. One was called ‘My angry Vagin’ It described how the Vagina suffers pain in hands of tampons etc. I thought it was silly. I am a woman and I use tampons and there are thousand reasons why I am thankful to it, and not once that I can crib for. I get it, after all this comes from a real life testimony but I fail to identify. How can you be complaining about tampon being a hard rough cotton swab and what you deserve is a flower soft rose feeling thing inside you.
Second was a monologue about how a Vagina is synonymous to a woman. That she would want to be loved. Using Vagina as a metaphor for woman, she pushes the idea of a woman wanting to be loved, caresses, appreciated and cuddled. I am not sure if I agreed with the personification.
Then there was The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could, which was a child’s account of how she has a disturbing sexual experience as a child and it was healed by another sexual experience with an older women when she was in her teens. It is just a monologue of describing pleasure. It was enacted brilliantly so was one of the best of lot.
Then there was Reclaiming Cunt in which a woman mentions how cunt word is beautiful. There was The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy. It was also, good because it was executed beautifully. It mentions a woman who likes to give sexual pleasure to other woman. As a sex worker, she takes up the task to pleasing only woman because she knew she was gifted at it and also how women lacked real pleasure from men.
Next was a short act I was twelve describing a girl’s experience as she starts her menstrual cycle. The act wasn’t elaborate but I could identify. I too was twelve. Bit early by average Indian standards which took my mother for a bit of shock. I was clueless how to cope and majorly disappointed with myself and with being a girl.
I Was There In The Room, is written by Eve herself. She describes the birth of her granddaughter. By far the most sincere and honest account of all. It is written beautifully and the only tender account in the play. It is an intricate detail of childbirth and how it is one occasion that hurts a woman’s tree the most, yet is a prized experience for them.
Then there was this brilliant act about different types of orgasm moans by women- the power moan, vaginal moan, clitoris moan etc. That piece was hilarious!
All in all, I would not say I was very impressed by the play, nor disappointed. Few times I appreciated the acts, few other I wasn’t convinced. As in being a woman, I am supposed to empathize completely with the acts. I did not many times. A repeated idea of how women never looked at their Vaginas or one day put efforts to see was so unrealistic. I have never gone through that. It was a normal part of me and I saw it always, but never after a deliberate attempt or something. I remember always being familiar with it, never having felt ashamed, disgusted, ashamed or proud...nothing. It was never the way it’s describe in the play- being introduced to it one fine day etc etc…
But of course, i am not denying that such things hapen.
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