This new production by Durga Venkatesan is an amalgam of theatre and sound installations rooted in Indian womanhood

Durga, a Delhi and Bengaluru-based theatre artiste, directs, writes and performs the work based on her experiences with kitchen culture , which serves as the initial inspiration. “Bread Salt comes from a personal desire to investigate my fear of making a roti and turns it into a larger conversation around womanhood, the kitchen and beyond. The relationship between women and the kitchen has been an unsaid one, sometimes taken for granted. I wanted to start inquiring about the same,” Durga begins. Her fear isn’t as simple as apprehension over a recipe; it’s a stand-in for a broader ambivalence about the kitchen as a gendered space as the kitchen remains a complex and contradictory environment, one of nourishment and unrecognised labour for Indian women

The choice of roti as a symbol was not incidental. Growing up in Delhi, Durga observed the ritualistic preparation of rotis, often by women, with garam roti becoming a potent metaphor. “I have always wondered, what it takes to make, serve and continue the service of bread salt. Is it just an act of love and warmth or a taken-for-granted labour? Roti is a symbolic representation of perfection that we strive for — to make the perfect round roti, which draws a parallel with the unrealistic standards of perfection expected out of women,” the artiste shares.

Creating Bread Salt involved more than writing a script. The project’s sound installation, the Garam Roti Libraryis a collection of recorded voices, each woman responding to a simple prompt: “Do you make a roti? How do you feel?” The recordings provide insight into the woman’s relationship with the kitchen, shedding light on her reflections on identity, labour and tradition. This library of tapes is an evolving testament to the diversity of female experiences across India, as Durga and her team strive to capture narratives that are unscriptable. “The recording phase has been underway since January 2024. Currently, the library carries 12 tapes. When I set out to make a piece on womanhood and domestic work, I feared running into generalisation or being the ‘representative of women.’ To hear the stories of the women through their own voices is an exercise of raw storytelling,” the director reveals.

In the performance, the voices from the Garam Roti Library will be available for public listening, encouraging the audience to engage without judgment, in a state of openness and curiosity. “The experience of communal listening of the tapes during the performance shall encourage the audience to exercise curiosity, not judgment,” Durga believes. Visually, the production is as deeply rooted in cultural themes. The set and costumes draw from the traditions of Tamil Nadu, Durga’s ancestral home. Her attire, a traditional pavadai-sattaiis both a celebration of heritage and an expression of identity. The space itself will be infused with symbols of ritual — haldi-kumkum, mogra and rosewater, all gestures that recall the sense of ceremonial dignity. “The performance design draws inspiration from the rich cultural tapestry of Tamil Nadu — the sprinkling of rosewater, a Mughal-era custom known as panneer theilithaladds a touch of regal elegance,” she notes.

However, her work doesn’t claim to speak for all women; instead, it offers a platform where voices can be heard and where differences in experience become points of connection rather than conflict. “In the current climate, topics like gender expression and domestication have become increasingly divisive. The tapes carrying the narratives of women are about scripting the unscriptable… It allows viewpoints across the spectrum to get into a dialogue and create a new synergy of the truth,” the writer concludes.