Marju Aur Moena ki Kahani is a story of two girls (age 13-15) set in the fictitious villages of Haldipur and Bhuterapur in Madhya Pradesh. Marju is the daughter of Shaitan Seth’ who is the favored, most senior minister in the court of ‘Raja Dhool Singh’, an irate king who is prone to making hasty and ill thought out decisions. Through the tales of the two girls we traverse the landscape of Madhya Pradesh with folk songs and myths. Given that the five performers are from diverse SC/ST backgrounds, they bring in stories, figures and mythologies from their own community histories that have been erased or suppressed. The performance questions the societal norms and expectations that frame the lives of girls and women. The performance is geared toward young children between the ages of 8-13 years. We hope to travel with this performance in peri-urban and rural areas, where children are less exposed to the arts and theater as a form of self expression. The performance adopts techniques of Forum Theatre, where the audience is encouraged to participate. Based on their responses, the actors improvise and take the stor(ies) forward, presenting different sets of possibilities. Given that most plays/stories for children end with a moral/prescribe ways of thinking and doing, our intention is to create a dynamic performance that encourages agile and independent thinking and questioning in children’s minds. We intend to travel with this performance to government and private schools. 

We imagine the performance to be comedic and use song, dance and music to tell the story. In the contexts where members of Freeda Theatre group live and work, comedy is often seen as the domain of men. Women are not ‘supposed’ to laugh, much less on stage. We wish to take up this challenge and create a humorous play that also challenges the stereotype of women as ‘victim/weak’. The two protagonists represent the values of free spiritedness, daring to question the usual conventions and norms placed on young children, particularly girls. These subtle and explicit gendered restrictions often begin at the age of 8-13 years (our intended audience). Through the story of Marju and Moena, we hope to evoke children to reflect on their own lives and question the restrictions that are imposed on them. 

Language: Hindi, Neemadi, Malawi and Gondi. 

Guided by :
Anish Victor

Supported by :
Maraa, a media and arts collective