C Sharp C Blunt: In conversation with MD Pallavi

A mobile phone app that will make your life musical, in fact an app that caters to your every whim  you can change her settings (pitch, flexibility, huskiness, sweetness, and sexiness), play with her special features, and even alter her bust and waist size. The app is the premise used to build the story of C Sharp C Blunt; intercut with the app are vignettes of various professional women, representing Shilpas body, voice, and programmer, coming up against misogyny and exploitation in the entertainment industry.

A naive singer is asked to sing vulgar lyrics, and an actress is prodded to make a rape scene aesthetically pleasing, and on top of it all, they are faced with incessant condemning questions from a faceless narrator. Things take a turn when these women, and eventually Shilpa herself, begin to malfunction.Director Sophia Stepf and one-woman wonder MD Pallavi deliver a piece of work that is simultaneously charming, intelligent, alarming, and unforgettable.

Shilpa Speaks Theatre can NEVER be mainstream.

MD Pallavi is the backbone of C Sharp C Blunt, carrying the story singlehandedly through 75minutes. She is one of those quintessential theatre persons  passionate as hell, driven and a little cuckoo in the head. We caught up with her before the performance for a brief chat.

On performing solo The level of focus required is challenging. I cannot be thinking of absolutely anything when I m on stage.

On women in theatre Women are definitely less objectified in theatre than on celluloid. I mean, do you watch ads? Sadly whether on celluloid or on stage, meaty roles for women are usually written by women and draw positive response from primarily women.

On META As the only awards that recognize Indian theatre, the META is definitely an encouragement, a moral booster for theatre people across the country.

C Sharp C Blunt will be touring India this April.