"There's a lot of misunderstanding around what it actually is! "
Writer Shriya Bhagwat talking about the ancient Indian manuscript, the Kamasutra, the inspiration for her debut as director and playwright.
She spoke to Voices about her play, the Kamasutra Chronicles, which finally saw the light of day at Auckland’s basement theatre last week.
After being in the making for two years setback by one lockdown after another, getting the play up on stage "feels like one deep exhale" says Shriya.
"We’ve been through trial by fire really - it's a triumph for all of us together I think, kudos to the team for sticking around!”
Kamasutra Chronicles at the Basement Theatre Photo: Supplied
Before you go thinking that it’s a racy, innuendo-heavy play with lots of dramatized sex – really it’s a story about an immigrant couple dealing with some fairly universal trials of long-term marriage – loneliness, not as much sex, or the sort they’d like, and a general sense of disenfranchisement.
It’s a satire that takes head on the realities of patriarchy and the irony of sex as an awkward subject amongst South Asians.
LISTEN TO THE FULL VOICES INTERVIEW HERE:
Kamasutra Chronicles at the Basement Theatre Photo: Kamasutra Chronicles
Rishabh and Ishita, the couple, are played by actors Devesh Sherman and Gemma Naidu, who take the audience along in their scenes of mundane domestic life and marital friction.
Magically, to the rescue - appear Vatsyayana (Prashant Belwalker) the writer of Kamasutra, and his sassy muse Vasant Sena (Jennifer Onyeiwu) - together they deliver some cleverly-crafted truth bombs drawn from the ancient text to help salvage the relationship.
Vasant sena (Jennifer Onyeiwu) and Ishita (Gemma Naidu) Photo: Kamasutra Chronicles
"I've had reactions from both ends of the spectrum, eyebrows have been raised and jaws have dropped - I don't control my writing" says Shriya.
"As a writer, you just simply write your truth."
LISTEN TO THE FULL VOICES INTERVIEW HERE:
