Seasoned Souls season 3: A theatrical exploration of identity, struggles, and self-expression

CHENNAI: We as women often rejoice in the process of getting ready. At least most women do. As kids, getting all decked up just had us smearing our face with our mothers talcum powder, maybe a little kajal to lighten up our eyes. “Getting ready those days was just easy. Why have we changed so much over time?” questions Malavika Reshmi Sivalingam, who will be part of The Art Factory's (TAF) Seasoned Souls- season 3, which is a monologue series curated by Prasanna Rajaram.

Titled Get Ready With Me (GRWM), the performance revolves around different colourism and body shaming incidents that some of us would have faced at some point of our lives. Malavika says, “I would say the concept stems from me wanting to be more presentable at the cost of basing self-confidence entirely on it, so that I can fit in and gain external validation.”

Bowjijewel is another theatre artist who will be seen performing the life of Antonyammal, titled Supporting Staff Antonyammal. Antonyammal is a househelp who gets arrested by the cops for a murder committed by her home owner. “I often find the working class to be treated differently in society. For some reason, it becomes easier for people to blame them for all their actions--good and bad,” explains Bowjijewel. Through her monologue, Bowjijewel tries to highlight the struggles of househelps.

Acting did not come naturally for Balram, who is also one of the performers for Seasoned Souls- season 3. “I still can't come to terms with my reality that a shy and timid person like me, who faces difficulty to even stand confidently in front of 10 people, has acted in 10 different stage productions,” narrates Balram.

He will perform Ulloornayagan, which is about an artiste who always did what he loved the most despite the outcome - to perform. Balram explains, “My monologue will explore the journey of a theatre artiste and how our Ulloornayagan rises from the ashes like a phoenix for his love towards acting.”

After a successful season 1 and season 2, Seasoned Souls- season 3 explores six monologues which also includes performances of Aparna Rajhesh, Prasanna Rajaram and Kanupriya. “Our objective is to showcase various talents from the Chennai theatre scene and promote theatre in the city,” Prasanna says.

Season 3 of Seasoned Souls will take place on November 16, with two shows, one at 4 pm, and the other at 6.30 pm, at The Spastics Society of TamilNadu - Teach Auditorium, CISR Road, Taramani.