The second day of the Vagina Monologues 2016, or Yoni Ka Kathaharu, drew in a sold-out crowd at the Mandala Theatre, Anamnagar on February 13. The two shows staged on Saturday both drew in capacity crowds, with many of the audience choosing to watch the show seated on the floors and parapets rather than being turned away.   

Mandala Theatre’s women’s group, Madalenas Nepal,  is currently staging the Yoni ka Kathaharu Nepal, a Nepali interpretation of the Vagina Monologues, an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre in 1996. Yoni Ka Kathaharu is the result of a set of 20 vagina-workshops, conducted in the months leading up to the show, and represent a collection of female voices and experiences about taboo subjects that face married and single women in our society.

Madalenas Nepal is deeply rooted within Madalenas International and Theatre of the Oppressed. It was developed to recognise the need for female creative spaces to explore violence and oppression related to gender. In the director’s note, Akanchha Karki says, “Vagina Monologues is not just a play or a compilation of stories, it is a beautiful liberating experience. It is a celebration of sexuality, identity, life, pleasure and love. It is a celebration of women.”

The final staging of the show will take place on February 14, Sunday, at 5pm at the Mandala Theatre.