Motley's Aurat! Aurat! Aurat! at Prithvi Theatre

An all-female cast enacts selections from Ismat Chughtai’s autobiography, and three other writings (Ek Shauhar ki Khaatir, Aadhi Aurat Aadha Khwab, and Soney ka Anda) which are essays or ruminations rather than stories. The works reflect Ismat apa’s abiding concern for the state of womanhood, her impatience with empty rituals and her anger at the condescension women are subjected to. Far from being a bra-burning man-hater, Ismat displays an amused fondness for masculine foibles and the same compassion for foolish manhood as she does for any woman of the oppressed class.