Reflections on the Powerful Play Nirbhaya—“We Cannot Make Revolution Fast Enough!”

June 1, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a member of the NYC Revolution Club and Stop Patriarchy:

Nirbhaya, the Hindi word for “fearless,” is the name they gave to this woman. Jyoti Singh Pandey was her real name, and she was a young woman, viciously beaten and gang-raped on a bus in Delhi, India, in 2012. Jyoti died two weeks later as a result of her injuries. This brutal act of violence sparked national and international outcry. The women of India rose up defiantly, pouring into the streets, facing water cannons. They were finally unleashing their pent-up fury, which they were always taught to swallow, to ignore, that it had no place in their society. All of this was the inspiration for the play, titled Nirbhaya.

From the moment it starts, the play demands the audience's attention. The set, with just a few pieces positioned to resemble a bus, dim lighting, and fog constantly seeping in, invites you to step into the world each of six women creates with her story. One after another, these six women share their stories, beginning and ending with Jyoti’s. Every single story involves horrific acts of violence inflicted on these women by men. They are all true stories, the actual stories of the actors who portray them.

One woman grew up seeing her father as the most powerful man in the world; a man who would constantly remind her that he controlled every aspect of her life, with his constant beatings. When she was young, she developed a love of acting, and when she got her first job as a teenager she had to kiss a young man on stage. When her father got word of this, he stormed into the theater, viciously beat her, and attempted to cut off her lips. Not long after, she was forced into an arranged marriage, and was constantly raped and beaten by her husband. She gave birth to two children, a girl and a boy, and when the rape and the beatings by her husband became too much, she escaped but was only allowed to bring one child with her. She chose her daughter, knowing if she did not her daughter would have the same fate. Another story involves a woman whose husband set her on fire, nearly killing her and destroying the skin on her face and body, and then stole her son, who she has not seen in decades. She remains tormented every day by her own reflection in the mirror and the loss of her son. Another story involves a woman who grew up in relative privilege. She lived on her own in Canada, but was violently beaten and raped by a man who broke into her home one night, an experience which still haunts her.

I went in knowing what this play was about, but nothing could have prepared me for the heaviness of it all, and the way it would have an impact on me. I went with a crew of people, from all walks of life. All of us, different ages ranging from 16 years old to 65 years old, different nationalities, and various gender expressions. We were also all freedom fighters in our own right, many of us members of the Revolution Club and/or Stop Patriarchy, with different levels of experience in relation to that. So going into this, we already had a certain level of outrage and awareness that violence against women is a global epidemic. But again, nothing could have prepared us for this play; the way it confronted us with this reality.

Coming out of it, we all had a very hard time expressing how we felt. Many of us had been sobbing throughout almost the entirety of the play. The first thing out of my mouth was, “We cannot make revolution fast enough.” And it’s not like I don’t always have this burning passion to make revolution to emancipate ALL of humanity, but sometimes as you constantly are going out fighting the power in various ways, digging into theory, and sometimes even with all of that going on, you can take for granted that what we are talking about affects REAL people, now. What we understand to be true, this global epidemic of violence against women, is really coming down on women and girls every single day, in so many terrible forms. We HAVE to fight to end all forms of oppression. Real people’s lives depend on it.

What also really struck me was the power of these women, telling their stories, night after night after night. How did they find the strength to do this!? It is incredible, the potential of human beings to rise above, to get through horrible experiences, and share those experiences with others, especially if they feel that something positive can come out of it. And there are SO many women out there who have these stories, and have this fury, just waiting to be unleashed. And it NEEDS to be unleashed, as a mighty force for revolution, to break ALL the chains that bind humanity.

 

 

 

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