Feminist Exploration of Material Objects in Anuradha Kapur's Jeevit Ya Mrit

This article focuses on the Indian feminist director Anuradha Kapur's unique approach to theatrical objects and practices as stimulating gendered behavior. Analysing her play Jeevit Ya Mrit (Alive or Dead), I show Kapur's deliberate emphasis on the surplus of material objects and the devising of props as related to the figuration of the women actors onstage wherein the attempt is to focus on the mise en scene rather than the character being portrayed. With a discerning and a percipient eye for detail and an assemblage of objects onstage, the paper will focus on how Kapur deals with the mediality of the event, the format in which it is structured for the performance and the effect on the audience.