What happens when the journey of motherhood transforms a woman not just physically but deep within her soul? That’s the question at the heart of Belly of the Beast, the latest production from Aadyam Theatre. Co-written by Kalki Koechlin and Sheena Khalid, and directed by Khalid, the play adapts the book The Elephant in the Womb into a theatrical experience that blends reality with myth.
The story follows five women at different stages of motherhood—from pregnancy and labour to postpartum life, raising young kids, and eventually learning to let go. As their lives shift, they morph into mythical creatures that embody the emotional and physical intensity of their experiences. The play draws from real-life stories and testimonies, capturing moments that are beautiful, frightening, exhausting, tender, and deeply personal.
The Mythical Creatures of Motherhood
Instead of sticking to realism, Belly of the Beast uses mythology to peek into the inner lives of its characters. At the centre are five creatures: a dragon, a unicorn, a spider demon, a vampire, and a werewolf. Each creature springs from a woman’s emotional world, giving form to feelings that are hard to voice—fear, desire, rage, vulnerability, and resilience. By shifting between everyday life and fantasy, the production turns intimate experiences into something larger, stranger, and highly theatrical.
The cast includes Kalki Koechlin, Kettan Singh, Amba Suhasini K. Jhala, Rachel D’Souza, Shanaya Rafaat, and Shruti Vyas. Together, they bring these archetypal beings to life, showing how motherhood can unleash transformations of mythic proportions.
Bringing the Stage to Life
The world of the play is built with shadow puppetry, live music, and movement. Acclaimed puppeteer Anurupa Roy collaborated on the shadow work, allowing the mythical creatures to exist alongside the performers. An original live score by Guy Hershberg adds emotional depth to the storytelling. Together, these elements create a space where reality and imagination merge—and often blur.
Director and co-writer Sheena Khalid explained how the visual language developed. “I found the graphic style of the novel intriguing. To preserve that intrigue, we thought that shadow puppetry and working with overhead projectors would work really well with the genesis of the book. Also, I always wanted to collaborate with Anurupa Roy, the puppeteer. So that’s kind of how all of these things started coming together.”
Real Talk on Motherhood
Speaking about the production, Kalki Koechlin didn’t hold back. “Pregnancy is tough, birth is gruesome and postpartum is hell, but more horrifying than all three is society’s completely casual approach to one of the most epic experiences life has to offer,” she said. “Only when you become a mother do you awaken to the intensity and wonder of it all, to the sheer strength of character required to create life, and to transformations of mythic proportions that are unleashed upon mothers. This isn’t a cute play on the gift of motherhood; this is you walking straight into the belly of the beast.”
Sheena Khalid, who isn’t a mother herself, said the research for the play completely shifted her perspective. “The conversations with friends, the stories of mothers, and a deep dive into what it actually means to grow a human being inside you, the challenges and the glory of it, revealed far more than I had anticipated.”
At its core, Belly of the Beast doesn’t present motherhood as a single, universal experience. It embraces its contradictions—love and exhaustion, care and rage, wonder and uncertainty existing side by side. Compassionate, darkly humorous, and visually inventive, the play offers an honest look at one of life’s most transformative journeys.