A very dramatic list of plays
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Editor’s note: We realised we’ve never done a reading list of plays before. While they are always great to watch, dramatic text can be fun to read, as well. Especially out loud. So, we got former librarian Phalguni Vittal Rao to list some of her favourite contemporary plays–all of which are available to read for free on www.thedramalibrary.com along with 400+ other Indian plays in 10 different Indian languages. The Drama Library is a Bhasha Centre initiative.
Written by: Phalguni Vittal Rao is an actor, writer, creator, curator and arts manager. Her written work can be found on Firstpost, The New Indian Express, The Better India, and the Drama School Mumbai newsletter and blog.
There are multiple ways to engage with plays—you can watch them, listen to them or (my favourite) read them. Out loud, hopefully. Though I began my reading journey in the theatre with the usual suspects of the Western canon (hello Shakespeare, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams), my interest and perspective widened when I stumbled across contemporary Indian playwrights. As a former librarian and presently curator of The Drama Library, a digital repository of unpublished plays in India, these recommendations span geographies, languages, and themes, and most importantly, take a deeper look into our humanity and the world around us.
Still and Still Moving by Neel Chaudhuri (English and Hindi): Set in North Delhi and Gurgaon, ‘Still and Still Moving’ is a poignant story of two men and their dance of a love affair. Partho is a reclusive writer in his forties, and Adil, a young Delhi University student. Both seek the refuge of companionship and intimacy in each other. Chaudhuri writes a searing yet gentle account of two people tugging at their fractured love affair spread across a megapolis, as they dance around each other to find the right lockstep. The writing is crisp and as a reader, one can almost hear the musicality of the play in its words.
Aashi and Renu by Kavya Srinivasan (Kannada and English): This queer coming of age story set in the heart of Bangalore—where chutney cheese sandwiches, encounters in Cubbon Park, Kannada songs from the 80s are abound—is about Aashi and Renu, two young girls who have been best friends all their lives.
Celebrating girlhood with a touching sincerity and lots of humour, the play begins in a Romeo and Juliet-esque fashion, with Renu climbing into Aashi’s balcony in the middle of the night to coach the latter on how to talk to the man she is about to be engaged to.
A tale of friendship and romance, Srinivasan’s play is a warm hug that explores the deep love and romance two friends have for each other, the masti that is inherent in such relationships, figuring out one’s sexuality, and more.
Moogetu (Invisible Wound) by Ravikiran Rajendran (Kannada and English): Written in Kannada (an English translation is available), ‘Moogetu’ questions how Dalit women live in a Savarna world. Who gets to decide how one must live? Who decides what their histories must be? Rajendran explores these questions of identity, caste, reservations, and violence that women from the Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi and marginalised communities face in claiming their space in the world. In the play, Roopa, a writer and college professor, is tormented by the othering she faces on a daily basis and the constant feeling of being scrutinised by people—in her reality and in her world of dreams.
Nerkku Ner (Face to Face) by Neeraja MR (Malayalam and English): Written in Malayalam (an English translation is available), ‘Nerkku Ner’ is set in northern Kerala, home to the ritual worship of Theyyam—a form in which the performer transcends reality to become the Gods and Goddesses protecting the village. In the sacred world, Muchilottu Bhagavthy, a powerful Theyyam Goddess, is disturbed when a crumpled, burnt creature—a shadow of her past—calls out to her from an old well. Meanwhile, in the human world, Smitha is tormented by memories of a violent secret that her Theyyam mask keeps egging her to reveal to her family. Written by Neeraja MR, the play is a study of the stories we allow ourselves to tell. What does it take to tell a story? Who is a Goddess and what constitutes the sacred?
Mahua by Akash Mohimen (Hindi and English): Inspired by a true story reported in P Sainath’s book ‘Everybody Loves A Good Drought’, Mahua follows the life of a 20-year-old tribal leader Birsa in a village called Bihabund, where government officials are behind the villagers to give up their land for mining precious metals. Birsa’s life is turned upside down one day when he is punished for shooting an old man from the neighbouring village of Kukura, who he mistakes for a rabbit. His punishment? To marry the old man’s only daughter Gilli, who is 12 years older than him and often considered the “witch” of Kukura.
First performed in 2012, the play is a moving tale of two seemingly incompatible, deeply flawed people who find their way through a difficult marital life and fight against all odds to hold on to the land they call home.
Waiting for Naseer by Sapan Saran (Hindi): In Mumbai theatre, actor Naseeruddin Shah is revered like a God—his work discussed to no end, actors waxing eloquent of his prowess and presence while they dream of sharing the stage, or the room with the man, like the protagonists of this play. They are waiting at Prithvi Café (adjacent to the iconic Prithvi Theatre) to catch one of his latest shows.
The premise of this hilarious philosophical comedy is weirder than it sounds: only one of the actors has a ticket and both of them are dead. It is highly relatable for those in the performing arts as the play looks closely at the aspirations and the extent to which artists can go to get what they want. As a writer, the play is an example of Saran’s skill of taking ideologies and turning them into well-formed characters, while ensuring she leaves the reader doubling up with laughter at every turn.
