PROJECT DARLING

Project Darling is a play in Kannada with English Subtitles.

Where and all you are roaming, I say?

Why can’t there be a training program for marriage?

Isn't eloping cheap and best?

Why did the brinjal stand up when I went to the market?

Meet Khanavali Chenni – she is either asking questions or being asked questions. Chenni was an iconic character who ruled the Kannada stage with her double-meaning, rib-tickling dialogues and sexual innuendo. The play traces the journey of a group of performers who set out on a search for Chenni. While trying to find her, they stumble upon several other actresses who had their own stories to share. Will they eventually meet Chenni? What will they discover? Project Darling is a humorous and incisive examination of female sexuality at the crossroads of censorship and culture.

The play is based on a research project where the director interviewed several female performers from the Kannada company theatre. The play juxtaposes videos, photos and soundscapes from her research with song, dance, puppetry and clowning as it seeks to rewrite Kannada Rangabhoomi’s women performers back into our cultural history…on our own terms.

Supported by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) Research grant, reFrame Genderalities Fellowship and developed at Nirdigantha – an incubation centre for theatre by national award winning actor Prakash Raj.