In a powerful theatrical event in Mumbai, acclaimed director Mohit Takalkar brings to life the raw and layered world of Alice Birch's award-winning play, Anatomy of a Suicide. Staged at The Box, the production delivers a gripping and emotionally intense exploration of trauma as it passes from mother to daughter across three distinct generations.
A Triptych of Trauma and Survival
The play presents the simultaneous stories of Carol, her daughter Anna, and her granddaughter Bonnie. Their lives unfold on a stage marked like a game of knots and crosses, a visual metaphor for their interconnected fates. Carol, portrayed with devastating restraint by Faezeh Jalali, battles her own demons while desperately trying to shield her young daughter. In a poignant moment, she shouts to her husband, "I am only just managing to drop a breath… I have to stay here until she grows. I can’t sleep until she’s grown."
This anxiety, however, becomes a legacy. Anna, Carol's daughter, grapples with addiction and self-harm. Bonnie, the third-generation daughter, grows up haunted by the past, perpetually on guard and unable to form secure bonds. The narrative boldly shows how she eventually considers a radical route to end this tragic family inheritance.
Technical Brilliance and Stellar Performances
Takalkar, known as one of the country's finest directors, employs a technically brilliant staging method. The lives of the three women are performed concurrently, with dialogues from one era occasionally bleeding into another, masterfully underlining the fluid, persistent nature of generational pain. The director demands much from his ensemble cast, and they deliver stellar performances.
Amba Suhasini Jhala and Mallika Singh Hanspal are particularly noted for bringing out the profound complexity of their protagonists' situations. The men who share the lives of these women also provide crucial, supportive performances. Running for two-and-a-half hours with an interval, the play maintains a firm grip on the audience, keeping them deeply engaged from start to finish.
A Personal Journey for the Director
In a revealing Director's Note, Mohit Takalkar shares that this production is the closest he has come to telling his own story. He writes that the text "opened wounds I have carried for years and yet, strangely, it kept offering light." He found himself breaking in new ways during the process, learning that "breaking can be a form of breathing."
Takalkar poignantly adds that he has "walked too close to the edge before. Twice," making his connection to the material deeply personal. He clarifies the play's core message: "Anatomy of a Suicide is not about death. It is about what remains. The anatomy of survival, of holding on, of finding language again."
The play, written by cutting-edge British playwright Alice Birch, is being presented in Mumbai for a limited engagement. Showtimes are scheduled for December 7 at 5:00 PM and 8:30 PM at The Box. This production is more than a night at the theatre; it is a profound meditation on inheritance, resilience, and the fragile anatomy of survival.
