Beauty ideals didn’t simply descend from heaven, they actually came from somewhere and served a purpose, often a financial one, namely to increase the profits of those advertisers whose ad dollars actually drove the media that, in turn, created the "ideals.” These words by feminist author Naomi Wolf serve as a fitting introduction to Jyoti Dogra’s solo performance , a visceral exploration of the commodification of the body and the shame surrounding it. Set to be performed at Oddbird Theatre over this weekend, is not a conventional play but a deeply personal piece devised, directed, and performed by Dogra herself.
In this performance, she confronts the policing of the body, the shame ingrained in us, how various industries play a role in this alienating relationship with our bodies, and the conversations around it by people we encounter in everyday life. “I get on the floor and start working out different scenes, dramaturgy, and structures,” says Dogra. This method of creation, where the narrative unfolds through experimentation and physicality, parallels the themes of , where the body becomes both the subject and the canvas.
Dogra began working on during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when many of us became hyper-aware of our bodies. “Either people had gained a lot of weight or lost a lot of weight; of course, people were eating a lot of healthy stuff, getting into fitness due to the fear of COVID-19. There was also this general policing of the body; we police our .