In this one actor show, a Sydney-sider tells us of her youth in Chennai. Her Indian family are working abroad and, as a teenager, the protagonist is sent to the city to study dance. She learns to present the eight heroines, all of whom are lovers. (Can a whole artistic tradition fail the Bechdel test? The answer is obviously yes, though I claim no expertise regarding this one.)
A catch-up with an old school friend and a phone call with her mother bring back memories of her youth.
As teenager, a clandestine relationship with a boy turns from romance to fear as he increasingly exhibits controlling, violent behaviour. The adults are absent – even the ones she asks for help – and our protagonist has no idea what to do.
Co-created and co-directed by Nithya Nagarajan and Liv Satchell, this is a brilliantly crafted work. Its fluid movement from the present to the past highlights how an individual’s personal history can underpin their now. The motif of the dance lessons operates on multiple levels, creating a counterpoint to the passing of time, but also hinting at attempts to bring order to a universe slipping into chaos. The script’s many references to Hindu myth further this conceit: these seemingly timeless representations portray a world both grand and frighteningly wild. (The fact that the Hindu pantheon includes Kali, the goddess of death and destruction, is one of the reasons that religious tradition is a pinnacle of human culture. It’s tempting to try to bury misery, to pretend it can’t touch us, but it takes courage, of the transformative kind, to acknowledge with clear eyes the existence of violence.)
Vaishnavi Suryaprakash performs this piece beautifully, moving between characters and time periods with a masterful ease. Musicians Bhairavi Raman and Marco Cher-Gibard provide a magnificent soundscape for both the dances and the emotional growth of the character.
It’s difficult to discuss what this play does without breaking the spoiler rule (which is a tribute to its superbly tight construction.) But if the eight heroines fail to serve as models, and if the past is not forever to determine the present, a new vision must be found – and, here, gloriously, it is.
Paul Gilchrist
Nayika (A Dancing Girl) co-created by Nithya Nagarajan and Liv Satchell
at Belvoir until 19 May
Image by Brett Boardman
Theatre Red 