Lentils and Stones: A performance with theatre, puppetry and dance, inspired by the poem ‘Women Cleaning Lentils’ by the Armenian poet Zahrad.
As she goes about her daily routine of sorting lentils, an old woman’s mind wanders. Her memory takes her to unexpected places, sometimes leading, sometimes following, all the while orbiting around the unseen domestic work that filled and swallowed the whole of her adult life, scooping her up as a child and depositing her off in the present, as an old woman left alone.
In a curious reversal of roles, the old woman’s television watches on, ineffectively trying to understand this woman’s paradoxical relationship to her past.
The endless invisible labour that is still a source of deep resentment for the old woman also functions as a source of pride and validation. And in her old age it assumes yet another role, as her only remaining connection to a world long since passed.
Credits
Performed by Aditi Bheda and Bhagirathy (as the Television), Devika (as the Voice of the Old Woman), Madhushree Basu (as the Memory), and Vijay Ravikumar (puppeteer for the Old Woman)
Music composed and performed live by Abhaydev Praful
Art design and sets by Parvathy and Pranav Sreerag
Puppet design and construction by Pranav Sreerag and Vijay Ravikumar
Costumes by Purba
Lighting by Anushka Meenakshi and Iswar Lalitha
Written and Directed by Vijay Ravikumar
Special thanks to Perch Collective Chennai for their support and mentorship.
