Five Lords Yet None A Protector & Timeless Tales - Two Plays

Two plays: both are based on the Mahabharata. The first one narrates the story of Draupadi. She was married to the five royal Pandava brothers and her humiliation at the hands of the Kauravas, the cousins of her husbands and rivals for the throne, is depicted. The second play reveals the tragedy of the royal women, Satyavati, the three abducted princesses, Amba, Ambika and Ambalika, the queens Kunti and Gandhari, and the daughters-in-law, Draupadi, Subhadra and Uttara. Both the plays are one-woman performances in the tradition of kathakatha, dramatised storytelling that uses live music. By subverting traditional theatre and the gendering of the stories, Mitra's plays challenge the audience's views of 'decorum'.