The play has been a fantastic acting workshop for me: VJ Teejay Sidhu

Teejay Sidhu is busy learning the Rajasthani folk dance ghumur these days. She’s also developing a marwari accent that her character in her debut play requires. Called Mareechika, it is directed by Ila Arun, is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s popular play Lady by the Sea.

“The play has been a fantastic acting workshop for me,” says Sidhu. Ila Arun, however, has successfully managed to turn Ibsen’s play into a colourful Rajasthani folk tale that unravels in a conversational fashion. She has written the play and composed the songs. She even went to Jaipur to buy the costumes and jewellery for it.

The play opens with two story-tellers Bhopa and Bhopi who narrate the story in a simple fashion. There’s also a lot of singing and dancing, which brings out Rajasthani culture.

Sidhu is thrilled with her theatre foray. “Unlike films, theatre allows you to polish your performance,” she asserts.

Mareechika talks about a young woman who is forced into marrying an older man. She is unable to adjust in her married life because she is still in love with a stranger she met years ago who eventually comes back into her life. TV actor Karanvir Bohra and Manav Goel, and singer Ishita Arun are also a part of the cast.