Arangham Trust presented 'Her Voice' in Chennai. Performance and choreography was by Bharatanatyam dancer Geetha Chandran from Delhi; puppets were by Anurupa Roy and the script by Rajiv Chandran, with the musical score by Shyam Banerjee. Two different art forms, dance and puppetry blended together seamlessly to make a potent combination. The lessons to be learnt from the Mahabharata applicable to all humanity, continue to be relevant even today.

What are the hidden costs of war- death, sorrow, and more sorrow? A war looked at from a woman's perspective, particularly a mother's, shows how futile all that bloodshed is. The narration and the enactment of this tale were gripping. Draupadi loses her courageous son Abhimanyu in battle, and later her surviving sons are slain in their sleep; these emotional moments were dealt with sensitivity. Another noteworthy scene is when Draupadi's hair is washed in Dusasana's blood symbolically. The dancer and the puppet had red ribbons streaming down them like rivulets of blood; here the message was conveyed effectively without the gore. The nritta aspect too enforced the mood- it was appropriately fast-paced and intense during the periods of high drama. Only Geetha's rich attire deflected from the solemnity of the tale.

Draupadi's recollection of "the horrors of 18 day war" continued as a soliloquy as the war progressed. It was a recording of her reactions, not the questioning or the researching of her thinking. The presentation was filled with powerful phrases like, "How can I find peace from human blood? The blood smell of everyone's blood in the world is identical", and "...every sense is invaded by war... Has this war invaded our genes?" and when her sons are killed, "No sorrow is greater than losing one's son. How can a mother losing 5 sons at a time retain her composure? Is death the only antidote for sorrow?" It was a powerful script, but uneven where it dwindled into clichés.

Luckily the presentation went beyond a mere mime. The abhinaya, the music with the special effects, the lighting and the puppets turned it into powerful drama. The puppetry was unusual, yet effective. It complemented the dancer on stage, sometimes seeming to offer comfort, sometimes as an alter ego to perhaps re-enforce the physical self. The larger-than-life puppet in the background with a big round face and two enormous arms made a dramatic beginning, and stayed throughout providing the theatrical quotient. A life size puppet was very effective during the heartrending scenes when Draupadi loses her sons. Though unobtrusive, and fully covered and masked in black, the puppeteers were visible on stage, facilitating the movements of the puppets.

As an experiment between the different visual art forms of puppetry and Bharatanatyam, the show was an unmitigated success. As a study of Draupadi's thought process and psyche, it fell woefully short. This is an excellent subject with unlimited facets and numerous paths of exploration. As Geetha herself admitted during the question- answer session that, "the production is still evolving..." Perhaps it will get more introspective with time.