As part of the 38th Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival this year, a Sydney-based organisation, Trikone Australasia has produced ‘Sundrella’, giving the classic fairy tale of Cindrella, a ‘gay’ and ‘bollywood’ spin.
The play-cum-musical promises to have all the corner stones of Bollywood – comic characters, dramatic scenes, foot-tapping music, a romantic love story and sweeping dance performances.
“This production is unlike anything Sydney or Mardi Gras has ever seen before,” the play’s director Bali Padda told SBS Hindi. “It is a classic fairy tale, but not as you know it.”
Talking about giving the classic fairy tale a twist, the play’s writer, Kunal Mirchandani told SBS Hindi, ‘The original story of Cinderella contains strong themes of love and acceptance. When the Prince realises that the bejewelled woman he saw at the ball was an orphan girl, he casts aside tradition and welcomes her into his life as his Princess. This defiance of cultural norms - along with the realisation that a person is defined by who she/he is inside - is a theme that nearly every LGBTIQ person can relate to.’
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Set in 18th-century British India, Sunderella features a cast of 15 men – half of them dressed as women – in splendid costumes and jewellery.
“There are plenty of drag shows in Sydney – particularly during Mardi Gras,” said Mirchandani. “But there’s something unique and incredibly attractive about this show, which will feature a bunch of men from diverse backgrounds in glamorous female roles.”
Sydney-based men from backgrounds as diverse as Indian, Bangladeshi, Fijian, Filipino, Middle Eastern, Chinese… even Caribbean play the roles of classic Cinderella characters – the evil stepmother, the vicious but ridiculously comic stepsisters, the dashing prince and the effervescent and intriguing Sunderella.
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It is a complete Bollywood play, with foot-tapping music and sweeping dance performances. Mirchandani said, “There are eight high-energy dance performances sprinkled throughout the show. Each of them feature dazzling costumes and jewellery – it’ll be an explosion of colour and so much culture on stage.”
‘If our audience members also come out of the play feeling a renewed sense of awareness of various LGBTIQ issues, then it’s truly the cherry on top!’
Trikone Australasia, a not-for-profit social support group for GLBTIQ folks of South-Asian background living in Australia, is the producer of the play who have produced Mardi Gras shows such as In the Space Between (2011) and The Last Chai (2013).
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