Ok That's Enough, is a play that questions societal norms about women 

The poster of the new play Ok, That’s Enough is nothing short of provocative. It is provocative in different ways. It may either intrigue you or irritate you. But whatever your thoughts, the playwright and director Anju Alva Naik manages to get your attention with it. So what is it that the woman with her bare arms raised over her head is trying to convey? Anju throws some light. “My mind was made up about the idea of having a very compelling image to show through the poster that would capture the essence of the play. It was a conscious decision because the play speaks about a lot of  uncomfortable things such as rape fantasy and the commonness of it’s occurrence in the female psyche. It also talks about how men generally convert shame into something more masculine like rage or anger because of their low tolerance to shame. Therefore, even the colours of the poster are nude peach mixed with grey,” explains Anju who debuts as a playwright and director.

Contradicting ideas
The story is about two women, Preethi and Swati, who are in their early 20s. Preethi is an engineering student from a small town and Swathi is a city-bred girl who is pursuing a masters in psychology. Both are starkly different from each other. When they face a grave situation, the differences in their personalities emerge. “The play covers a large canvas as far as themes and questions are concerned,” says Anju, adding, “Sexuality, of course occupies the foreground, but it also opens up a lot of other things. I do not wish to hand out a manual or a prescription of sorts as to how this play must be consumed but I want it to be experienced in people’s own specific way.”

Though Anju mentions that it is a product of her imagination, she has weaved scenes inspired from real life incidents. Talking about her actors, she says, “This is a performance-centric play and it’s really heartening to see the journeys the actors have made from the first time they walked into rehearsal to where they are now.” The play has all the required elements of a psychological thriller — it’s highly character-driven, it lays emphasis on the conflict of the internal nature of the human being where it’s mostly the person versus the inner self and there is an element of violence.

Tickets Rs 400. December 8-10. At Jagriti Theatre, Whitefield.

ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress
@aishatax