The play Sleeping Naked is inspired by a lesser-known aspect of the spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi— his sex experiments in which he shared his bed with young girls to master his sexual drive. Gandhi explained that he was putting himself in sexually arousing situations in order to test his ability to resist sexual temptation. Sleeping Naked is set in a dysfunctional family, where the father Stony models himself after Gandhi in pursuit of spirituality. Stony takes a vow of celibacy after having his first child, and starts sleeping naked with his daughter when she turns 10. Stony’s wife Mei Man doubts her attractiveness when her husband stops having sex with her. While she is forgiving towards her husband, she is jealous of her daughter who has the “privilege” of sleeping with her husband naked.
Sleeping Naked looks into the conflicts between spirituality and physical indulgence; control and freedom; acceptance and denial, through three characters in the household. These are issues that are highly relevant to today’s society as every urban person is seeking spirituality and inner peace in each unique way, but at the same time pursuing material comforts, wants and needs. While many people in the society desire for freedom and transformation, they are also fearful of drastic change and call for control. This is thus, a play that anyone living in a city can relate to.
Sleeping Naked was developed under Centre 42's Basement Workshop (now known as the Creation Residency). Read about Basement Workshop here.
