Woman in Black

Though street theatre is among the strongest mass media,it cannot claim a captive audience. Its stage is a marketplace,park,slums or street corner and it demands a high degree of confidence to call out to busy pedestrians to watch a play. “If we make a mistake,they’ll point it out ruthlessly,” says Marwaha. She speaks in a hoarse voice and there’s no trace of the teenage shyness she sometimes talks about. “I always say to myself that if Arvind Sir (Arvind Gaur) had conducted an audition for the theatre workshop,I would never have made it. I was soft spoken. Today,after five years of relentless performances on the streets,my voice has become heavy and hoarse. No regrets,” she says with a smile.

The performances focus on issue that hit home–domestic helps,farmer suicides,communalism,and drug abuse among others. “When a child steals Rs 5,he is slapped,when a public figure steals Rs 2,00 crore,it becomes breaking news. Whether it is communalism or corruption,it is always the common man who is affected,” she says. Her acting style is powerful and she looks her audience in the eye as she performs,establishing her story as their’s.

The script for the plays is written by Gaur and Marwaha is responsible for co-training actors,helping to conduct workshops and coordinating street performances besides acting herself. “We are actors,so we never refuse an invitation to perform. We’ve even had 16 performances in a day,and I divided the workshop students and college students who train with us into groups and spread across the city to perform,” she says.

Marwaha adds that street theatre performers are not financed by the government or any other institution but the connect with the audience is rewarding enough. Her future dreams,she adds,are in Bollywood but she will never turn her back on the streets of Delhi.