Watch: All About Women, at Jagriti

That's how All About Women, which will be staged (“a happy coincidence“) on the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, came about. Raja hasn't tampered with the “global“ script that revolves around relationships and everyday situations. “There's nothing European about it. The stories and situations are universal.“ For instance, two sisters who are at loggerheads with each other; another about two friends who are exceptionally close, until a third woman comes into their lives; three friends who work for the same firm all with the same ambition; three kinder garten girls and three ladies in a retirement home, all waiting to perform in a concert.“It's often funny, often sad, often recognizable as your own life story, whether you are a man or a woman,“ she adds.Three actors essay the 15 characters ranging from the age of five to 90 years. That has been their challenge and continues to be. Although there have been other directors who have employed more than a cast of three, Raja decided to keep to the script, without making any changes. “Right at the beginning, the playwright had mentioned that it was a script written for three. It's taken a lot of work to put together the play which alternates and interweaves the five life stories.“Starting in December, the cast and crew have gone through some grueling sessions -not just for the cast (in their late 20s and early 30s) to pull off the role of kindergarten students or 90-year-olds, but also prep for quick scene, costume and character changes. Which is why, seasoned performer, director and teacher, with over a decade of work in dance and theatre, Anita Rathnam, was brought on board. “A very apt question that Anita raised before she started training us was whether we were going to be making fun of the characters or whether we really had to look like the characters. And since we wanted them to be believable, we've had to work on our attitude, body and voice,“ says Anuja Ghosalkar, one of the cast members. For instance, Ghosalkar says that for the role of an elderly lady, she had to work on a high-pitch tone and hunch. “When I first read the script, I was a bit scared. It's not easy to play several roles almost simultaneously,“ she admits.With production timing playing a key role, they've used simplistic props and costumes to allow quick transition.There's a lot of back and forth between stories and within a matter of a few seconds, actors need to change character and the stage set has to be changed.The play, which was staged at Rangashankara recently, had the director slightly apprehensive.“Each area has a different kind of audience. We weren't sure if the audience of that locality would appreciate our work,“ she says. And although it's a play by women (and of women), it's really for the men to watch (and learn, perhaps?). ALL ABOUT WOMEN IS BEING STAGED AT: JagritiWhitefield